So  9^ 


OF  THE 

U  N  IVER.S  ITY 
OF  I  LLI  N  0  I  5 

793.  a 
B83f 


The  person  charging  this  material  is  re¬ 
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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  LIBRARY  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


APR  12 

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I'll 


f  ft  *  * 


J1IN24 

APR  1 


TO 


%0fTl 


1978 


9r 


377 


*1  385 


DEC 

MAR  $  3  1998 

MAR  :s  1  1393 


?  m 

v 


APP  1  f  1977 


APR  13 
APR  1  5 

DEC  16 
FEB  2  2  198B 


Mil?3 


1980 

1988 


1982 


L161  — 0-1096 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Amusing  Experiments  in  Physics, 
Chemistry  and  Geometry 


BY 

GEORGE  BRUNEL 


WITH  OVER  ONE  HUNDRED  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CHICAGO 

JAMIESON  -  HIGGINS  CO. 
1901 


COPYRIGHT,  I9OI,  BY 

JAMIESON-HIGG1NS  CO, 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


THE  sole  aim  of  this  little  book,  aside  from 
its  purposes  as  a  source  of  profitable 
pastime,  is  to  show  that  a  number  of 
scientific  phenomena  can  be  verified  in  the 
home  without  the  use  of  costly  apparatus. 

The  experiments  presented  are  all  simple, 
and  may  be  readily  performed  with  the  use  of 
common  objects.  While  some  are  a  little  more 
complicated  than  others,  they  are  nevertheless 
practical,  and  in  the  event  of  their  proving  too 
difficult,  may  easily  be  dispensed  with  from 
among  so  large  a  number. 

1 

M 

A 

k 


x 


800542 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

PAGE 

The  Pile  of  Checkers  . 

5 

An  Hydraulic  Screw  . 

55 

The  Obedient  Coin 

7 

A  Screw  in  the  Air 

57 

The  Insensible  Coin 

9 

A  Screw  by  Hot  Air  . 

58 

A  Clever  Stroke  .... 

1 1 

A  Little  Cannon  .... 

59 

A  Counter-Stroke 

12 

Weighing  Gas . 

61 

Balancing  a  Knife  in  Space  . 

13 

The  Magic  Wheel 

63 

A  Coin  Balanced  .... 

*4 

The  Rings  of  Smoke  . 

64 

The  Inclined  Plane 

*5 

The  Microphonic  Stick  . 

66 

The  Walking  Cork  . 

17 

The  Three  Colors  .... 

68 

The  Mysterious  Apple 

18 

A  Picture  of  a  Volcano  . 

69 

An  Amateur  Pneumatic  Machine 

20 

Complementary  Colors 

70 

A  Balloon  in  a  Vacuum  . 

26 

The  Recomposition  of  Light  . 

7* 

Suffocation  in  a  Vacuum  . 

27 

The  Phantom  Pin 

74 

Ebullition  in  a  Vacuum  . 

28 

Amphitrite . 

75 

A  Voiceless  Bell  .... 

29 

Illusions  in  Optics  .... 

78 

The  Ventilator  .... 

30 

A  Simple  Experiment  with  Static 

The  Bursted  Bladder  . 

31 

Electricity . 

81 

Resisting  the  Pressure  of  the  Air 

33 

Magnetic  Attraction  . 

83 

Compressed  Air  .... 

35 

The  Magnetic  Specter 

84 

The  Effect  of  Condensation  . 

36 

Animal  Magnetism 

85 

Pulverization  with  Petroleum 

37 

Principle  of  a  Galvanic  Battery 

87 

A  Barometer . 

38 

A  Battery  with  a  Lemon  . 

88 

A  Suction  Pipe  .... 

4* 

Electric  Attraction  and  Repul- 

Ascent  of  Water  in  a  Vacuous 

sion  . 

90 

Decanter . 

42 

Metallic  Colors  .... 

92 

The  Submerged  Coin  . 

44 

The  Weight  of  Steam  Contained 

The  Perverse  Cork 

45 

in  the  Air . 

95 

The  Pressure  of  Gas  . 

47 

Metallic  Arborizations  . 

97 

An  Egg  as  a  Steam  Engine  . 

5° 

Instantaneous  Crystallizations  . 

97 

The  Imaginative  Swivel  . 

52 

Volcanoes  in  Miniature 

98 

An  Experiment  with  Locomo- 

A  Rudimentary  Gas  Burner  . 

99 

tion . 

54 

Camphor  in  Water  .  .  .  1 

too 

CONTENTS  —  Continued, 


PAGE 

How  to  Make  Ice  .  .  .  ioi 

How  to  Cut  a  Bottle  with  a 
Piece  of  Twine  .  .  .  ioi 

The  Bridge  of  Asses  .  .  .103 

Another  Way  of  Demonstrating 
the  Same  Theorem  .  .  105 

Re-Entering  Angles  .  .  .107 

Tracing  Parallel  Hatchings  .  109 
How  to  Draw  a  Spiral  .  .111 

The  Perspectograph  .  .  .113 

Ascertaining  the  Height  of  an 
Edifice  or  a  Mountain  .118 

A  Practical  Way  of  Finding  a 

Meridian . 119 

A  Filter . 122 

An  Accurate  Pair  of  Scales  ,  124 
An  Economical  Letter-Weight  127 
A  Photographic  Camera  .  .128 

An  Economical  Plate  Holder  .  1 3 1 
The  Taclc  in  the  Ceiling  .  .132 

To  Cut  a  Rope  with  the 

Hands . 134 

A  Drawing  Glass  .  .  .  135 

An  Archery  with  Pens  .  .137 


PAGE 


A  Simple  and  Economical  Mul- 


tipligraph . 

138 

The  Magic  Theatre  . 

00 

CO 

M 

The  Hermetical  Cork  . 

140 

An  Economical  Binding  for 

Papers . 

141 

Rapid  Vegetation  .... 

143 

The  Automatic  Pedestrienne  . 

144 

The  Horsewoman  .... 

146 

The  Mechanical  Elephant 

149 

The  Somersault  .... 

152 

The  Boxers . 

rS5 

The  Top  Spouting  Water  . 

*57 

A  Trick  After  Robert  Houdin 

*59 

Popular  Fire- Works  . 

1  61 

A  Target  Line  . 

1 62 

The  Enchanted  Coin  . 

163 

A  Diminutive  Catapult 

i65 

The  Four  Matches 

166 

How  to  Raise  Four  Knives 

with  One  Knife  . 

168 

The  Vaulting  Pea  .  .  .  . 

1 69 

A  Problem  in  Checkers  . 

171 

Shadow-Pictures  . 

1 72 

FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  PILE  OF  CHECKERS. 

We  read  in  all  books  on  physics  that  matter  is 
inert.  Here  is  a  very  simple  experiment  which 
will  serve  to  demonstrate  the  accuracy  of  this 
statement. 

Take  a  pile  of  about  one  dozen  checkers,  as 
indicated  in  the  illustration.  Before  this  col¬ 
umn  set  another  checker  on  end,  which  you 
will  shoot  against  the  pile  by  making  your  finger 
slide  forcibly  along  the  length  of  its  circum¬ 
ference.  The  checker  thus  shot  will  strike  one 
of  the  checkers  in  the  column  and  cause  it  to 
drop  out  completely,  without,  however,  in  the 
least  affecting  the  equilibrium  of  the  others.  The 
entire  column  will  descend  upon  the  checker 
beneath  without  being  deranged. 

In  reality,  the  force  of  impulsion  communi¬ 
cated  to  the  checker  which  left  the  pile  was  not 
transmitted  to  the  remaining  checkers,  which, 

5 


6 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


true  to  the  law  of  gravity,  sank  vertically  to  take 
the  place  left  vacant. 

This  experiment  may  be  varied  by  means  of 
a  knife,  with  which  a  sharp  horizontal  blow  may 


THE  PILE  OF  CHECKERS. 


be  struck  against  one  of  the  checkers,  compel¬ 
ling  it  to  leave  the  pile,  whose  symmetry  will, 
however,  not  be  altered  in  consequence. 

This  principle  of  inertia  will  furnish  us  with 
a  number  of  experiments  as  interesting  as  they 
are  conclusive. 

Upon  a  bottle  lay  a  visiting  or  playing  card, 
and  on  top  of  that  a  piece  of  money  small 
enough  to  pass  into  the  neck  of  the  bottle.  The 
coin  should  be  placed  just  above  the  mouth  of 
the  bottle.  Give  a  vigorous  little  rap  in  a  hori¬ 
zontal  direction  upon  the  edge  of  the  card  and 
you  will  succeed  in  displacing  it,  while  the  coin 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


7 


will  fall  into  the  neck  of  the  bottle.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  phenomena  were  produced:  the  move¬ 
ment  was  too  rapid  to  be  transmitted  to  the 


piece  of  money,  so  the  card  alone  was  displaced, 
the  coin  necessarily  falling  without  deviating 
from  the  line  of  its  position. 


THE  OBEDIENT  COIN. 


Take  a  box  of  matches  and  remove  the  drawer. 
Hold  the  box  in  a  horizontal  position  and  place 


8 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


upon  the  middle  of  the  top  a  small  coin.  In 
order  to  make  the  coin  go  inside  without  touch¬ 
ing  it  give  it  several  light  strokes  on  the  side 


THE  OBEDIENT  COIN. 

which  you  wish  it  to  enter.  As  soon  as  it 
reaches  the  edge,  tip  the  box  lightly,  raising  the 
end  where  the  coin  is  until  it  is  balanced  upon 
the  edge.  Another  gentle  stroke  of  your  finger 
and  it  will  drop  inside. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


9 


When  you  strike  the  box  you  impart  to  it  a 
movement  which  is  not  participated  in  by  the 
coin,  which  remains  stationary.  In  reality  a 
retrograde  movement  is  produced  in  the  box, 
ending  in  drawing  the  box  backward  at  the 
moment  when  the  coin  arrives  at  the  edge.  This 
little  experiment  is  very  interesting  and  easy 
of  execution. 


THE  INSENSIBLE  COIN. 

Roll  a  strip  of  cardboard  about  3  or  4  inches 
in  length  into  a  ring,  holding  it  in  shape  with 
a  pin.  Then  balance  it  upon  the  mouth  of  a 
bottle,  and  upon  its  upper  side  place  a  coin  im¬ 
mediately  above  the  bottle’s  neck.  When  the 
whole  is  so  arranged,  try  to  remove  the  ring  so 
that  the  coin  will  fall  into  the  bottle.  You  will 
obtain  this  result  by  giving  a  lively  stroke  of 
your  finger  upon  the  interior  of  the  ring,  as 
indicated  in  the  cut.  The  ring  will  fly  off,  while 
the  piece  of  money,  by  virtue  of  its  inertia  not 
participating  in  the  movement  produced,  will 
invariably  drop  into  the  neck  of  the  bottle.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  you  strike  the  circle 
from  the  inner  side. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  INSENSIBLE  COIN. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


II 


A  CLEVER  STROKE. 

Take  a  stick  about  one  yard  long-  and  in  each 
-  end  stick  a  pin.  This  done,  rest  the  stick  upon 

the  bowls  of  two  pipes,  which  two  persons  hold 
by  the  hand,  but  in  such  a  way  that  only  the 


A  CLEVER  STROKE. 


pins  touch  the  pipes.  A  third  person  strikes  the 
middle  of  the  stick  with  a  sharp  blow,  breaking 
it  without  injuring  the  pipes  in  the  least.  Choose 
rather  fragile  pipes,  those  of  clay  answering  the 
purpose  very  well.  This  gives  greater  mystery 
to  the  experiment. 

The  explanation  of  the  experiment  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  blow  has  not  time  to  propa¬ 
gate  itself  beyond  the  point  where  it  fell. 


12 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


A  COUNTER-STROKE. 

Upon  the  neck  of  a  bottle  place  a  cork  ver¬ 
tically.  The  cork  should  be  large  enough  to 


A  COUNTER-STROKE. 


enable  it  to  rest  on  the  rim  of  the  neck  without 
sinking. 

Now  strike  the  neck  of  the  bottle  sharply  and 
you  will  see  the  cork  tumble,  not  toward  the 
other  side  of  the  bottle,  but  forward,  in  the  direc- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


13 


tion  of  the  hand  which  gave  the  stroke.  This  is 
again  an  illustration  of  the  principle  of  inertia. 
The  rapid  blow  serves  to  push  the  bottle  away 
from  the  cork  before  the  movement  can  be  trans¬ 
mitted  to  the  cork  itself. 

Few  persons  perform  this  experiment  suc¬ 
cessfully  the  first  time  because  an  instinctive 
fear  that  they  will  break  the  bottle  or  injure 
their  fingers  prevents  making  the  blow  suffi¬ 
ciently  strong. 


* 

BALANCING  A  KNIFE  IN  SPACE. 

This  experiment  is  interesting  and  easy  of 
execution. 


BALANCING  A  KNIFE  IN  SPACE. 


Take  a  rather  large  cork,  of  a  champagne 
bottle  if  you  have  it  on  hand.  ,Make  a  slit  in  it 
lengthwise,  inserting  to  one-third  the  depth  of 


14 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


the  cork  the  blade  of  the  knife  which  you  have 
chosen.  Then  stick  into  each  side  of  the  cork  the 
prongs  of  two  forks,  opposite  each  other,  so  that 
the  prongs  are  perpendicular  to  the  knife-blade. 

This  done,  you  have  only  to  suspend  the  tip 
of  the  blade  in  a  loop  of  twine;  the  knife  will 
remain  in  a  horizontal  position  and  can  be  swung 
to  and  fro  without  disturbing  the  equilibrium. 


A  COIN  BALANCED. 

Here  is  an  interesting  demonstration  of  the 
balancing  of  a  body  whose  center  of  gravity  is 
displaced  by  means  of  counter-weights.  The 
point  is  to  keep  balanced  in  a  horizontal  position 
on  the  edge  of  a  glass  a  piece  of  money  which 
does  not  touch  the  glass  save  on  its  extreme 
edge. 

Take  a  quarter  and  place  it  between  the  teeth 
of  two  forks  which  overlap  each  other.  Then 
rest  the  edge  of  the  coin  upon  the  glass  and 
either  bring  the  handles  of  the  forks  closer 
together  or  farther  apart  until  the  whole  is 
balanced.  The  center  of  gravity  will  then  be  at 
the  point  of  contact,  and  you  can  have  a  slight 
fluctuation  without  running  the  risk  of  derang¬ 
ing  the  equilibrium  obtained. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


15 


A  COIN  BALANCED, 


THE  INCLINED  PLANE. 

Take  a  piece  of  paper  and  roll  it  into  a  cylinder 
large  enough  to  hold  a  marble,  gluing  it  to¬ 
gether  so  as  to  retain  the  proper  shape.  Then 
close  up  the  ends  with  a  strip  of  paper  as 
indicated  in  the  illustration,  first  placing  inside 


i6 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


a  marble.  When  your  apparatus  is  dry  set  it 
upright  at  the  top  of  an  inclined  plane  formed  by 
a  little  board  or  ruler  resting  upon  a  pile  of 


books.  You  will  then  see  the  cylinder  fall  flat 
and  rise  again,  and  so  on  until  it  almost  reaches 
the  base  of  the  plane. 

The  effect  is  very  curious  and  will  be  espe¬ 
cially  so  if  you  are  enough  of  an  artist  to 
outline  some  design  upon  the  cylinder.  You 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


17 


will  have  a  very  original  series  of  movements 
and  will  certainly  amuse  your  spectators. 


THE  WALKING  CORK. 

Stick  two  knives  into  a  cork,  one  in  each  side 
opposite  each  other  so  as  to  form  a  balance. 


THE  WALKING  CORK. 


i8 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Then  into  the  base  of  the  cork  insert  two  pins 
deeply  enough  that  they  will  not  bend  under  the 
weight  which  they  will  have  to  support.  Place 
the  whole  upon  a  flat  ruler  slightly  inclined,  and 
give  it  a  light  rocking  motion.  The  weight  of 
the  apparatus  will  now  fall  upon  the  pin  (A), 
while  the  whole  turns  upon  that  pin.  The  knife 
placed  on  the  side  B  will  tend  to  restore  the 
apparatus  to  its  first  position,  but  the  movement 
of  oscillation  continuing,  the  pin  B  will  in  its 
turn  support  the  entire  weight  and  the  pin  A  will 
take  its  position  at  the  other  point  A,  indicated 
in  the  illustration.  The  walking  cork  will  con¬ 
tinue  its  march  along  the  assigned  route,  af¬ 
fording  an  illustration  that  all  bodies  are  at¬ 
tracted  by  the  earth  and  that  disarranged  from 
their  usual  position  of  equilibrium  they  become 
obedient  to  its  solicitations. 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  APPLE. 

Pierce  an  apple  so  as  to  obtain  two  passages 
through  it  which  will  form  a  rather  large  angle 
about  the  middle,  as  indicated  in  the  cut.  If 
you  have  at  your  disposal  two  goose  quills  you 
can  use  them  in  making  the  passages  more  solid. 
Pass  a  piece  of  twine  through  the  opening  and 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


19 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  APPLE. 


20 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


you  will  be  prepared  to  perform  a  little  trick 
which  will  astonish  all  who  are  not  initiated. 

Take  the  ends  of  the  string  between  your  hand 
and  foot  so  as  to  control  the  tension  of  the 
string.  You  can  then  command  the  apple  to 
descend  or  pause  and  it  will  execute  your  orders 
immediately.  In  reality,  when  you  draw  upon 
the  twine  the  portion  which  is  in  the  apple  will 
press  upon  the  angle  formed  by  the  two  pas¬ 
sages,  and  with  this  pressure  will  hold  the  ball. 
On  the  contrary  when  you  hold  the  line  lightly 
you  remove  all  rigidity  and  the  apple  will  of 
course  descend. 


AN  AMATEUR  PNEUMATIC  MACHINE. 

A  pneumatic  machine  is  a  necessity  for  cer¬ 
tain  experiments,  but  as  it  is  a  comparatively 
expensive  apparatus  there  are  herewith  given 
instructions  for  constructing  a  very  good  ma¬ 
chine  at  small  expense  which  will  answer  for  a 
number  of  interesting  experiments  with  atmos¬ 
pheric  pressure  and  vacuums. 

Get  three  rubber  tubes:  one  io  inches  long 
with  an  exterior  diameter  of  2  inches  and  an 
interior  diameter  of  i|  inches  (No.  i);  one  7 
inches  long  with  an  exterior  diameter  of 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


21 


22 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


inches  and  interior  diameter  of  i  inch  (No.  2); 
one  about  1  yard  long"  with  an  exterior  diameter 


No.  3 


of  2\  inches  and  an  interior  diameter  of  1  inch 
(No.  3). 

Divide  the  second  tube  into  two  equal  parts, 
in  a  section  of  45  degrees.  Into  one  of  the 


No.  4 


divisions  fit  a  hard  wooden  pipe  whose  shape  is 
indicated  in  the  illustration.  This  pipe  is  pierced 
lengthwise  by  a  narrow  canal.  Cut  a  little  win¬ 
dow  into  the  hollowed  out  portion  which  will  be 
closed  up  with  an  elastic  rubber  band  firmly 
bound  to  the  outside  of  the  pipe.  This  band  will 
serve  the  purpose  of  a  valve,  and  should  be 
placed  on  the  beveled  edge.  (See  the  figures.) 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


23 


Then  fasten  this  pipe  to  the  large  tube,  num¬ 
ber  one,  which  constitutes  the  body  of  the  pump. 

To  the  other  part  of  the  second  tube  attach 
another  pipe  similar  to  that  just  described,  but 


No.  5 

whose  rubber  band  is  fastened  to  the  side  oppo¬ 
site  the  beveling.  The  first  pipe  serves  as  an  exit, 
the  second  as  a  suction  pipe.  Finally  fasten  to 
the  third  tube  one  kind  of  muff  or  another,  ac¬ 
cording  to  whether  you  wish  to  condense  the 
atmosphere  or  make  a  vacuum. 

Construct  a  simple  pedal  with  two  boards  fas¬ 
tened  together  with  hinges  as  in  the  cut,  and 


24 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


AN  AMATEUR  PNEUMATIC  MACHINE. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


25 


bear  upon  it  with  your  foot.  The  air  contained 
in  the  body  of  the  pump  tends  to  escape  outside; 
so  it  raises  the  valve  of  the  pipe  number  one  and 
passes  out;  when  the  pressure  ceases  the  large 


tube  because  of  its  own  elasticity  resumes  the 
form  it  had  at  first  and  draws  in  air.  This  time 
the  valve  on  pipe  number  two  is  raised  and  lets 
the  air  escape  which  has  just  filled  up  the  body 
of  the  pump.  If  you  attach  to  the  second  pipe 
the  long  rubber  tube  number  three  which  has 
been  inserted  in  a  receiver,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
after  a  few  strokes  of  the  pedal  the  air  will  all 
be  sucked  in  and  you  will  have  a  comparative 
vacuum. 

When  you  wish  to  have  a  machine  for  con¬ 
densing  air  you  simply  require  a  slight  modifica¬ 
tion  in  the  detail  of  the  construction  of  the  valve. 


26 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Instead  of  arranging  the  rubber  band  as  de¬ 
scribed  make  your  valve  with  a  band  of  rubber 
held  by  one  side  alone.  You  will  have  to  be  very 
careful  to  use  exceedingly  strong  tubes. 


A  BALLOON  IN  A  VACUUM. 

Place  a  little  toy  balloon  in  a  receiver,  first 
moistening  it  slightly  to  render  it  more  supple. 


A  BALLOON  IN  A  VACUUM. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  there  is  an  equilib¬ 
rium  between  the  air  found  in  the  receiver  and 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


27 


that  contained  in  the  balloon;  but  when  you  have 
a  vacuum  the  balloon  becomes  inflated  and,  if 
the  experiment  is  prolonged,  ends  by  bursting, 
thus  proving  the  power  of  the  expansibility  of 
gas. 


SUFFOCATION  IN  A  VACUUM. 

Imprison  a  mouse  in  a  receiver  and  begin  to 
make  a  vacuum  and  you  will  soon  see  the  little 


SUFFOCATION  IN  A  VACUUM. 

animal  showing  all  the  signs  of  suffocation,  a 
proof  that  animals'  and  people  cannot  live  with¬ 
out  air. 


28 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


EBULLITION  IN  A  VACUUM. 

If  we  substitute  for  our  mouse  a  glass  filled 
with  distilled  or  rain  water,  when  the  vacuum 

is  made  our  water  will  boil,  although  ordinarily 

\ 


EBULLITION  IN  A  VACUUM. 


a  temperature  of  ioo  degrees  centigrade  is  nec¬ 
essary  to  make  water  boil.  This  phenomenon  is 
explained  in  this  way:  the  vacuum  causes  the 
bubbles  of  air  in  the  water  to  escape  from  the 
liquid.  They  have  little  difficulty  in  doing  this, 
because  there  is  scarcely  any  pressure  on  the 
surface  of  the  water. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


29 


A  VOICELESS  BELL. 

Every  one  knows  that  sound  is  only  a  series 
of  vibrations,  which  must  have  a  ponderable 


A  VOICELESS  BELL. 

medium  in  order  to  be  propagated;  in  other 
words,  in  a  vacuum  sound  cannot  be  trans¬ 
mitted.  Suspend  a  little  bell  in  a  receiver;  in 
proportion  as  the  vacuum  is  perfected  the  sounds 
will  diminish,  ceasing  entirely  when  the  rarifica- 
tion  of  the  air  is  completed. 


30 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  VENTILATOR. 

Let  us  change  our  material  and  take  some 
glass  receivers  open  at  both  ends.  If  we  place 


THE  VENTILATOR. 

our  hand  over  one  of  the  openings  and  a  vacuum 
is  made,  we  cannot  detach  the  hand.  And  not 
even  an  entire  vacuum  is  necessary,  because  the 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


3i 


subcutaneous  structure  would  be  injured  in  that 
case. 

It  is  by  the  rarification  of  the  air  that  cupping- 
glasses  are  efficacious  in  cases  of  illness.  Bits  of 
paper  are  burned  in  small  glass  receivers  and 
placed  upon  the  skin;  the  air,  while  cooling, 
contracts  and  produces  a  partial  vacuum. 


THE  BURSTED  BLADDER. 


Fit  a  light  rubber  film  into  a  receiver  and  it 
will  be  seen  that  in  proportion  to  the  vacuum 


32 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


produced  the  rubber  will  expand  and  form  a  bal¬ 
loon  in  the  interior  of  the  receiver. 

If  you  firmly  attach  a  well-stretched  bladder 
over  the  top  of  the  receiver,  it  will  not  be  long 


THE  BURSTED  BLADDER. 


before  it  will  begin  to  tear  under  the  influence 
of  the  atmospheric  pressure  which  bears  upon  it, 
as  it  loses  its  equilibrium  when  the  vacuum  is 
formed  beneath  it. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


33 


RESISTING  THE  PRESSURE  OF  THE 

AIR. 


We  shall  now  make  another  experiment 
which  will  teach  us  the  better  to  appreciate  the 
importance  of  the  gravity  of  the  air.  Lay  a 


34 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


piece  of  soft  skin  under  the  receiver,  providing 
it  with  a  hook.  Make  a  vacuum  and  you  will 
be  astonished  at  the  weights  which  will  be  nec¬ 
essary  to  detach  the  skin  from  the  glass. 

If  you  have  not  a  glass  receiver  convenient, 


RESISTING  THE  PRESSURE  '  :?  THE  AIR. 

a  wooden  spool  will  do.  Place  upon  one  end  a 
strong  playing-card,  to  the  middle  of  which  is 
attached  an  iron  hook.  When  the  rarification  of 
the  air  is  completed,  it  will  be  necessary  to  sus- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


35 


\ 


pend  very  heavy  weights  in  order  to  loosen  the 
card  from  the  spool. 


COMPRESSED  AIR. 

A  reservoir  of  compressed  air  is  necessary  in 
performing  several  experiments  with  condensa¬ 
tion. 

Get  a  tinner  to  make  you  a  pipe  about  ten 


COMPRESSED  AIR. 


inches  in  diameter  and  a  yard  long,  closed  at 
both  ends.  You  will  have  to  be  very  careful  to 
have  the  soldering  well  done  so  as  to  prevent 
any  leak.  Provide  two  openings  as  shown  in 


36 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


the  illustration,  each  furnished  with  a  little  tube, 
upon  which  is  fitted  a  rubber  tube  from  a  yard 
and  a  half  to  two  yards  long. 

In  order  to  fill  this  reservoir  with  condensed 
air  you  will  have  to  use  the  pneumatic  machine, 
employing  the  pipes  in  the  second  position  de¬ 
scribed.  You  must  be  careful  before  com¬ 
mencing  the  experiment  to  stop  up  the  upper 
rubber  tube.  When  you  think  that  the  condensa¬ 
tion  is  sufficient,  you  can  begin  the  experiment 
of  raising  a  ball  or  a  cork  as  indicated  in  the 
cut. 


THE  EFFECT  OF  CONDENSATION. 


Take  a  wooden  spool,  hollow  out  one  end 
and  place  in  the  groove  a  billiard-ball.  When  a 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


37 


rubber  tube  introducing  condensed  air  is  at¬ 
tached  to  the  other  end  the  billiard-ball  will  be 
raised. 


PULVERIZATION  WITH  PETROLEUM. 

With  the  aid  of  our  apparatus  for  condensation 
we  can  perform  various  experiments  in  solder¬ 
ing  which  require  a  high  temperature. 

We  shall  construct  the  following  pulverizer: 


PULVERIZATION  WITH  PETROLEUM. 

b 

Place  some  petroleum  into  a  bottle  of  the 
shape  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut,  and  in- 


38 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


troduce  into  it  a  glass  tube,  fastening  it  some 
distance  from  the  bottom. 

Seal  it  tightly  and  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
tube  fit  a  fixture  of  which  a  section  is  shown  in 
the  engraving.  This  has  three  openings,  two 
horizontal  and  one  connecting  with  the  tube 
that  is  immersed  in  the  petroleum.  Attach  the 
rubber  tube  to  the  reservoir  and  the  pressure 
bearing  upon  the  surface  of  the  liquid  will  force 
the  petroleum  to  rise  to  the  fixture,  where  it 
will  be  expelled  in  the  form  of  little  drops;  as 
they  are  mingled  with  the  air  it  follows  that  the 
molecules  of  air  at  the  same  time  are  carried  to 
a  very  high  temperature.  As  a  result  a  stream  of 
intense  cold  is  developed. 

This  pulverizer  may  be  used  to  purify  the 
atmosphere  of  rooms  simply  by  substituting  for 
the  petroleum  some  antiseptic  liquid. 


A  BAROMETER. 

Let  us  test  the  pressure  exerted  by  the  at¬ 
mosphere  surrounding  us  with  the  aid  of  the 
familiar  little  instrument  known  as  a  barometer. 

We  can  construct  it  ourselves.  Take  a  glass 
tube  about  one  yard  long  and  about  one-fifth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Fill  it  with  mercury, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


39 


then  tip  it  over  into  a  basin  containing  the  same 
metal,  being  very  careful  not  to  let  in  any  air. 


The  column  of  mercury  will  be  arrested  in  its 
descent  at  about  a  height  of  30  inches.  This  then 
measures  the  force  of  the  pressure  of  the  air,  be¬ 
cause  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  tube  there  is  an 


40 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


absolute  vacuum,  and  nothing  resists  the  ascent 
of  the  mercury.  So  the  weight  of  the  air  cor¬ 
responds  to  the  height  of  the  mercury. 

Suppose  now  that  an  interior  section  of  the 
tube  measures  one  square  inch;  we  shall  then 
have  30  cubic  inches  of  mercury.  Obtain  the 
weight  of  one  cubic  inch  of  mercury  and  you  will 
then  be  able  to  calculate  the  weight  of  the  entire 
column.  Knowing  the  extent  of  the  surface  of 
the  earth  you  will  be  able  to  continue  your  com¬ 
putations  with  a  view  to  arriving  at  some  idea  of 
the  enormous  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  it 
and  upon  us.  We  are  not  conscious  of  it  be¬ 
cause  the  pressure  is  exerted  in  all  directions  and 
because  it  bears  upon  us  in  elastic  fluids  which 
balance  it.  We  become  so  accustomed  to  the 
weight  that  during  stormy  weather  we  feel  heav¬ 
ier,  although  the  reverse  is  true,  for  when  the 
barometer  registers  lower,  the  pressure  has 
diminished,  we  have  less  weight  to  support. 
When  we  rise  in  a  balloon  the  weight  of  the  air 
becomes  less  apparent  and  at  about  the  height  of 
eight  or  nine  thousands  yards  we  experience 
such  constraint  that  the  liquids  of  our  body,  the 
blood,  water  and  bile  escape  outside,  being  no 
longer  sustained  by  the  pressure,  which  is  nec¬ 
essary  for  them.  In  this  way  we  are  apparently 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


4i 


held  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  while  the  lofty 
heights  of  space  are  protected  from  our  curios¬ 
ity. 


A  SUCTION  PIPE. 

There  are  many  scientific  recreations  to  be 


HI 

* 

0. 

Vi, 

y  > 

rj 

E 

—7  - 

- - 

*  r- 

■  -  -  - 1 

—  - 

. . : 

- — , 

— 

■ - - — *  * 

A  SUCTION  PIPE. 


had  in  connection  with  the  pressure  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere  which  we  have  just  tested. 


42 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Take  the  hollow  handle  of  a  steel  penholder 
or  of  a  dipper  and  pour  a  little  water  inside  it 
and  let  it  boil  until  the  air  in  the  tube  has  been 
replaced  by  vapor.  When  the  generation  of  the 
vapor  is  at  its  height  introduce  into  the  upper 
opening  B,  as  shown  in  the  figure,  a  little  piece 
of  cork,  closing  it  tightly;  oil  it  lightly  so  that  it 
will  slip  easily.  If  you  will  cool  the  tube  again, 
by  putting  it  into  a  basin  of  water,  for  example, 
the  steam  or  vapor  is  condensed,  a  vacuum  is 
produced  inside,  and  under  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  the  little  cork  slips  out.  If  you  at¬ 
tach  a  bit  of  twine  to  the  cork  you  can  draw  it 
back  and  repeat  the  operation;  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  water  which  escapes  and  the  vapor 
which  is  formed  you  will  see  the  cork  reascend. 


ASCENT  OF  WATER  IN  A  VACUOUS  DE¬ 
CANTER. 

Fill  a  deep  plate  with  water  and  place  upon  it 
a  candle  about  four  inches  long.  Light  the  can¬ 
dle  and  cover  it  over  with  a  large-necked  empty 
bottle. 

As  soon  as  this  is  done  you  will  notice  that  the 
flame  of  the  candle  begins  to  vacillate,  then  goes 
out,  while  the  water  rises  into  the  bottle. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


43 


Let  us  examine  for  a  moment  the  causes  of 
this  simple  phenomenon:  the  candle  burning  in 
the  bottle  consumes  all  the  oxygen  in  the  air, 


ASCENT  OF  WATER  IN  A  VACUOUS  DECANTER. 

producing  a  want  of  equilibrium  between  the 
pressure  of  the  gas  contained  in  the  bottle  and 
the  atmospheric  pressure.  This  last,'  being 
stronger,  operates  upon  the  water  in  the  plate, 
causing  it  to  ascend  until  the  pressure  of  the  gas 


44 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


remaining  in  the  bottle,  augmented  by  the 
weight  of  the  water,  restores  an  equilibrium  with 
the  pressure  of  the  liberated  air. 

If  you  will  repeat  the  experiment  you  will  no¬ 
tice  that  the  water  will  not  always  rise  to  the 
same  height;  this  is  because  there  is  a  greater  or 
less  amount  of  carbonic  acid  liberated  when  the 
candle  is  extinguished. 


THE  SUBMERGED  COIN. 

The  preceding  experiment  may  be  emphasized 
by  another:  Place  a  coin  in  a  soup-plate;  by  its 


THE  SUBMERGED  COIN. 


side  stand  an  inverted  glass,  and  add  water  until 
the  coin  is  covered.  You  can  then  announce  to 
your  spectators  that  you  are  going  to  draw  out 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


45 


the  coin  without  touching  it  with  your  fingers. 
You  can  calculate  upon  great  incredulity  on  the 
part  of  your  hearers. 

Place  on  the  stopper  of  a  bottle  a  little  plate 
containing  some  bits  of  paper  and  slip  it  under 
the  glass,  which  takes  the  place  of  a  receiver. 
Light  the  paper  and  wait.  As  soon  as  combus¬ 
tion  is  perfected  you  will  see  the  water  leaving 
the  soup-plate  and  rising  in  the  glass,  while  the 
coin  is  left  absolutely  dry  on  the  bottom  of  the 
plate.  You  can  then  make  good  your  promise 
of  picking  up  the  coin  without  wetting  your  fin¬ 
gers. 

This  experiment  proves  the  weight  of  the  air. 
In  reality  if  the  foregoing  phenomenon  were  not 
produced  the  air  would  escape  during  the  com¬ 
bustion.  But  as  soon  as  the  materials  on  the 
floating  cork  have  ceased  to  burn,  the  air  be¬ 
comes  cooler,  and,  in  cooling,  contracts,  and  in 
that  way  creates  a  vacuum  under  the  glass.  The 
atmospheric  pressure  acting  upon  the  water 
forces  the  water  to  rise  in  the  glass  because  of 
the  difference  in  the  degree  of  pressure. 


THE  PERVERSE  CORK.  * 

Take  a  glass  or  metal  tube  closed  at  one  end. 
Fit  into  the  open  end  a  stopper  of  cork  or  rub- 


46 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ber  which  will  close  it  hermetically;  pierce  the 
cork  with  a  small  hole  so  that  it  will  be  able  to 
pass  into  the  tube  without  difficulty,  afterward 
covering  over  the  hole  with  a  bit  of  leather, 


THE  PREVERSE  CORK. 


which  you  will  have  to  be  careful  to  moisten  be¬ 
fore  making  the  experiment.  Pass  a  piece  of 
twine  through  the  cork,  as  indicated  in  the  illus¬ 
tration,  so  that  you  can  draw  it  out. 

You  are  now  ready  to  make  another  demon¬ 
stration  of  atmospheric  pressure.  Raising  the 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


47 


little  leather  valve,  force  the  cork  to  enter  the 
tube  until  it  almost  reaches  the  middle.  Then 
replace  the  valve  and  pull  hard  upon  the  twine 
to  draw  out  the  cork.  But  it  will  not  come,  for  a 
vacuum  has  been  made  in  front  of  it  and  the  at¬ 
mospheric  pressure  prevents  it  from  leaving. 
But  if  you  will  pull  very  gently  at  it  it  will  offer 
no  resistance,  because  the  air  will  enter  by  the 
slightest  interstices  and  so  will  destroy  in  part 
the  exterior  pressure. 


THE  PRESSURE  OF  GAS. 

Take  two  small  bottles  and  close  them  with 
corks.  Pierce  each  cork  with  two  openings, 
through  which  you  will  pass  a  glass  tube  curved 
to  form,  an  elongated  U,  the  extremities  of  the 
tube  reaching  just  a  short  distance  below  the 
bottom  of  the  cork.  Fill  one  of  the  bottles  three- 
quarters  of  its  height  with  water  and  pass 
through  the  second  opening  in  the  cork  a  glass 
tube  pierced  at  both  ends  and  reaching  to  the 
bottom.  This  phial  should  be  corked  very  tight¬ 
ly,  if  necessary  using  sealing  wax.  Into  the 
other  bottle  place  some  chalk  and  fit  into  .the 
other  orifice  in  its  cork  the  end  of  a  paper  cornu¬ 
copia,  into  which  you  will  drop  a  pellet  of  putty 


48 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


or  of  wax.  Your  apparatus  thus  disposed,  you 
will  introduce  by  the  paper  cornucopia  some  vin¬ 
egar  or,  better,  some  sulphuric  acid,  whose  con- 


THE  PRESSURE  OF  GAS. 


tact  with  the  chalk  will  produce  carbonic  acid. 
Since  the  acid  cannot  escape  by  the  cornucopia, 
which  will  be  stopped  up  with  the  pellet,  it  will 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


49 


PRESSURE  OF  AIR 


50 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


pass  through  the  glass  tube  into-  the  other  bot¬ 
tle  and  there  collect  upon  the  surface  of  the 
water.  A  moment  will  come  when  the  pressure 
brought  to  bear  on  the  water  will  be  very  strong, 
when  the  water  will  rise  by  the  vertical  tube  and 
gush  forth  in  the  form  of  a  jet. 

This  experiment  may  be  given  in  a  simpler 
form.  Simply  take  a  bottle  and  fill  it  two-thirds 
full  of  water  and  cork  it.  Make  two  openings  in 
the  cork,  passing  through  one  of  them  a  tube 
which  shall  reach  to  the  bottom  of  the  phial  and 
through  the  other  one,  which  will  come  just  to 
the  surface  of  the  liquid.  Surmount  the  second 
with  a  receiver.  Spread  the  cork  with  wax  to 
prevent  the  air  from  penetrating.  If  you  will 
pour  water  into  the  receiver  it  will  penetrate  into 
the  phial  and  cause  the  water-level  to>  rise.  The 
air  will  be  pressed  and  will  bear  upon  the  mass 
of  liquid,  finally  causing  it  to  escape  by  the  other 
tube  in  a  jet  more  or  less  strong  according  to  the 
strength  of  the  pressure  exerted. 


AN  EGG  AS  A  STEAM  ENGINE. 

Here  is  a  very  interesting  little  recreation 
which  does  not  require  much  apparatus  in  order 
1  o  present  a  scientific  demonstration.  Set  up  the 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


5i 


little  structure  shown  in  the  cut,  a  few  small 
boards  being  sufficient  for  its  construction. 

ABCD  will  be  the  floor;  EG  and  FH  two  up¬ 
right  pieces  joined  above  by  a  crosspiece  GH. 


1  5 


AN  EGG  AS  A  STEAM  ENGINE. 


The  height  of  the  upright  pieces  should  be  about 
5  inches  and  they  should  stand  about  3  inches 
apart. 


0  OF  iU-  LIB. 


52 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Into  a  block  of  wood  about  -J  inch  across  and 
-J  inch  high  stick  a  strong  pin,  inserting  the  point 
just  a  short  distance.  Then  place  the  block  of 
wood  so  prepared  in  the  center  of  the  little  plat¬ 
form  between  the  upright  pieces;  into  the  cross¬ 
piece  insert  another  pin;  the  two  pivots  so 
formed  will  serve  to  hold  the  egg. 

Prepare  your  egg  for  its  novel  function  as  a 
steam  engine  by  first  emptying  it  through  a  small 
aperture  L;  then  make  two  other  openings,  N 
M,  to  which  you  will  glue  two  little  paper  tubes 
disposed  as  indicated  in  the  illustration.  Through 
the  opening  L  introduce  a  little  cold  water,  close 
the  opening  with  a  bit  of  gummed  paper  and  set 
your  egg  in  position,  balancing  it  on  the  two  pin 
points.  The  flame  of  a  candle  or  of  a  lamp  burn¬ 
ing  feebly  will  suffice  to  set  the  egg  in  motion. 
In  reality  steam  is  formed  within  the  egg,  and 
not  being  able  to  escape  except  by  the  openings 
N  M  brings  a  pressure  to  bear  on  the  side  oppo¬ 
site  the  opening.  This  motion  produces  a  ro^ 
tary  movement  which  is  communicated  to  the 

egg- 


THE  IMAGINATIVE  SWIVEL. 

It  is  not  very  difficult  to  make  this  swivel  and 
only  requires  a  little  patience.  Into  a  good  cork, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


53 


from  a  champagne  bottle,  for  example,  make 
three  incisions  of  different  sizes,  as  indicated  in 


THE  IMAGINATIVE  SWIVEL. 

the  cut.  Put  a  teaspoon  into  each  incision  in 
such  a  way  that  the  bowl  of  each  spoon  faces  the 


54 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


cork  at  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees.  On  the 
side  of  the  cork  stick  three  forks  opposite  each 
other  so  as  to  obtain  a  perfect  equilibrium.  In 
the  center  of  the  lower  surface  of  the  cork  insert 
a  needle  and  place  the  whole  upon  an  inverted 
glass  which  is  covered  over  a  bottle.  The  swivel 
should  maintain  its  balance  on  the  point  of  the 
needle. 

Before  commencing  the  experiment  you  must 
set  the  bottle  on  a  tray  or  a  plate.  After  giving 
a  light  impulse  to  the  apparatus  by  pouring 
water  into  the  spoons  you  will  obtain  a  contin¬ 
uous  movement,  which  will  be  due  to  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  the  water  upon  the  bowls  of  the  spoons, 
these  acting  as  screws,  moving  in  a  direction  con¬ 
trary  to  the  pressure  exerted. 


AN  EXPERIMENT  WITH  LOCOMO¬ 
TION. 

The  pressure  exercised  by  heavy  liquids  may 
be  tested  in  another  way  by  filling  an  empty  sar¬ 
dine  box  with  water.  Place  it  on  a  piece  of  board 
and  set  the  whole  in  a  tub  of  water.  You  must 
previously  have  made  a  slight  aperture  in  one  of 
the  sides  of  the  box,  which  can  be  closed  with  a 
small  wooden  peg.  If  you  will  remove  the  plug 
a  stream  of  water  will  gush  out,  and  the  whole 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


55 


will  take  on  a  movement  contrary  in  its  direction 
to  the  flowing  of  the  water.  This  is  what  has 
taken  place:  In  a  state  of  repose  the  liquid  ex¬ 
ercises  an  equal  pressure  on  the  sides  A  and  B, 


AN  EXPERIMENT  WITH  LOCOMOTION. 


but  when  the  opening  is  made  the  pressure 
makes  the  water  flow  at  B  and  destroys  the 
equilibrium  at  the  side  A,  which  withdraws  un¬ 
der  the  pressure.  You  can  give  this  experiment 
a  more  amusing  aspect  by  constructing  a  little 
boat  and  filling  it  with  water  instead  of  using  the 
sardine  box. 


AN  HYDRAULIC  SCREW. 

Purchase  a  simple  clay  pipe  and  make  the  fol¬ 
lowing  metamorphosis  with  it :  Close  the  mouth 


56 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


with  a  bit  of  sealing  wax  and  pierce  the  side  with 
the  point  of  a  knife,  suspending  the  pipe  by  a 
string,  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  the  string  be- 


AN  HYDRAULIC  SCREW. 

ing  attached  to  it  with  wax.  If  now  you  will 
pour  water  into  the  pipe  it  will  begin  to  turn  in 
a  contrary  direction  to  that  of  the  stream  of 
water,  which  will  escape  from  the  tiny  opening 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


57 


which  you  have  made  in  the  end  of  the  handle. 
This  is  due  to  the  pressure  exercised  by  the 
water  upon  the  portions  of  the  pipe  opposite 
the  opening  by  which  it  escapes. 

A  SCREW  IN  THE  AIR. 

Fasten  a  needle,  the  point  in  the  air,  to  the 
bottom  of  a  basin  with  a  bit  of  sealing  wax.  Ar¬ 


range  an  egg-shell,  a  third  of  which  has  been  cut 
off,  in  the  following  manner:  Pierce  the  upper 
end  with  two  little  holes,  into  which  insert  two 
straws,  each  terminating  in  a  right  angle  and 
held  in  place  by  sealing  wax.  Around  the  open 
end  of  the  egg  glue  three  or  four  pieces  of  money 


58 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


in  order  to  keep  it  in  balance.  Then  set  the 
shell  thus  prepared  upon  the  point  of  the  needle. 
Fill  the  basin  with  water  and  with  a  straw  blow 
the  air  beneath  the  egg-shell;  this  air  rises,  is 
condensed  above  and  in  escaping  by  the  little 
paper  tubes  gives  a  rotary  movement  to  the 
whole  apparatus.  This  is  the  same  phenomenon 
as  that  produced  by  water  pressure. 


A  SCREW  BY  HOT  AIR. 

During  cold  weather  the  hot  air  which  escapes 
from  a  stove  may  be  utilized  in  a  number  of  lit¬ 
tle  experiments. 

Trace  a  spiral,  as  indicated  in  the  cut,  upon  a 
card  or  strong  paper.  Then  cut  it  out  and  hold¬ 
ing  it  up  with  a  pencil  or  a  pointed  stick  of  wood, 
expose  it  to  the  heat  of  a  stove  or  of  a  furnace, 
and  you  will  immediately  notice  it  taking  on  a 
rotary  motion.  This  movement  will  be  caused 
by  the  column  of  air  which  is  found  beneath  the 
fire  and  which  occasions  by  its  reaction  a  pretty 
strong  ascending  movement.  If  you  do  not  wish 
to  hold  the  pencil  or  the  stick  in  your  hand  the 
spiral  may  be  attached  to  a  piece  of  wire  and 
idstened  to  the  pipe  or  some  other  support. 

This  experiment  may  be  rendered  more  en- 


tea<- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


59 


tertaining  by  making  a  wheel  of  paper  with  pad- 


A  SCREW  BY  HOT  AIR. 


dies  like  a  screw  and  mounted  upon  a  horizontal 
axis,  to  set  a  puppet  in  motion. 


A  LITTLE  CANNON. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  tension  of  steam  is 
considerable,  and  it  is  easy  to  make  the  follow- 


6o 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ing  experiment  in  illustration  of  it  successful: 
Buy  a  little  hollow  steel  or  iron  penholder  and 
fill  it  one-third  full  of  water.  Then  cut  out  a 


A  LITTLE  CANNON. 

stopper  for  the  open  end  by  sinking  it  into  a 
piece  of  potato,  and  pass  the  tube  through  a 
cork,  placing  it  in  a  slightly  sloping  position. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


61 


Beneath  the  lower  extremity,  which  contains  the 
water,  stand  a  lighted  candle  or  lamp,  and  you 
will  soon  hear  a  sound,  the  stopper  will  be  forci¬ 
bly  ejected  from  the  penholder  by  the  power  of 
the  steam  which  has  been  generated. 


WEIGHING  GAS. 

Certain  gases  weigh  much  heavier  than  air; 
of  these  one  is  carbonic  acid  gas.  This  can  be 
proved  by  constructing  scales  for  the  weight  of 
gases,  which  is  not  difficult.  Twist  a  piece  of 
brass  wire  into  the  required  forms  as  indicated  in 
the  accompanying  illustration.  One  of  the 
scales  may  be  made  with  a  strong  cardboard 
box,  the  other  with  the  lid  of  a  little  round  box; 
suspend  the  whole  by  a  piece  of  twine  and  secure 
equilibrium  by  placing  a  few  grains  of  sand  in  the 
side  designed  for  the  weights. 

The  manufacture  of  the  gas  is  extremely  sim¬ 
ple,  merely  requiring  that  you  should  pour  some 
sulphuric  acid  over  chalk,  receiving  it  into  a  bot¬ 
tle  from  which  it  will  not  escape,  since  it  is  heav¬ 
ier  than  the  air.  When  conducting  this  gas  into 
the  cardboard  box  you  will  see  the  latter  de¬ 
stroying  the  equilibrium  first  obtained,  thus 
demonstrating  that  the  gas  is  certainly  heavier 


62 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


than  the  air.  Some  curious  variations  of  this  ex¬ 
periment  may  be  made. 


WEIGHING  GAS. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


63 


THE  MAGIC  WHEEL. 


The  accompanying  cut  represents  the  form 


THE  MAGIC  WHEEL. 

* 

given  to  the  wheel.  Cut  a  stout  piece  of  card¬ 
board  into  octagonal  form  and  through  its  cen- 


64 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ter  pass  an  axis  held  in  a  norizontal  position  by 
means  of  two  upright  steel  wires  upon  which  its 
ends  rest,  and  which  are  sunk  into  a  piece  of 
wood.  Upon  each  of  the  eight  sides  of  the  wheel 
glue  a  paper  cornucopia,  all  the  cornucopias  of 
the  same  size,  and  when  they  are  dry  pour  into 
them  some  carbonic  acid  gas.  The  wheel  will 
immediately  begin  to  rotate,  to  the  astonish¬ 
ment  of  your  spectators,  for  the  acid  being  color¬ 
less,  no  one  uninitiated  can  imagine  what  causes 
the  wheel  to  revolve. 


THE  RINGS  OF  SMOKE. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  that  when  the  air  in  a 
room  is  perfectly  calm  tobacco  smoke  will  rise 
in  an  almost  vertical  direction?  And  have  you 
ever  dreamily  watched  the  blue  or  gray  figures 
traced  in  the  air  by  the  smoke  of  a  cigar,  and 
remarked  that  it  rises  capriciously,  signifying 
that  the  surrounding  atmosphere  is  calm?  In 
reality,  the  least  agitation  of  the  air  has  an  effect 
upon  the  fantastic  course  of  the  rings  of  smoke. 
This  fact  becomes  the  foundation  principle  of  a 
very  interesting  recreation. 

As  material  take  a  cardboard  box  in  the  lid 
of  which  you  have  pierced  a  round  hole  about 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC  65 

2\  inches  in  diameter.  Inside  the  box  place 


THE  RINGS  OF  SMOKE. 

two  sheets  of  blotting  paper  one  of  which  has 
been  impregnated  with  muriatic  acid  and  the 


66 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


other  with  ammonia  in  an  equal  quantity. 
Instantly  white  smoke  will  be  formed  which  will 
escape  through  the  opening  and  rise  toward  the 
ceiling. 

With  your  two  hands  make  a  series  of  pres¬ 
sures  on  the  sides  of  the  box  and  the  smoke  will 
emerge  in  the  form  of  delicate  rings,  the  result 
of  the  disturbance  of  the  air  within  the  box. 
The  same  effect  can  be  obtained  by  the  use  of 
tobacco  smoke  but  the  rings  endure  longer 
when  produced  as  just  shown. 


THE  MICROPHONIC  STICK. 

Here  is  a  curious  illusion  in  accoustics  based 
on  the  conductibility  of  sound  through  wood. 

Take  a  long  stick,  and  at  one  end  place  a  real 
watch  and  at  the  other  a  toy  watch.  If  you  will 
set  your  ear  against  the  latter  it  will  appear  to  be 
going;  you  can  distinctly  hear  the  ticktack,  a 
fact  which  will  produce  the  illusion  that  it  is  a 
real  watch.  The  sound  of  the  ticking  has  been 
transmitted  through  the  wood  because  of  the 
conductibility  of  wood. 

In  default  of  a  toy  watch  you  can  simply  place 
your  ear  at  the  bare  end  of  the  stick  and  you 
can  then  hear  the  ticking  of  the  watch  at  the 
other  end  just  as  if  it  were  beside  your  ear. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC  67 

With  this  experiment  you  can  perform  a  little 


THE  MICROPHONIC  STICK. 

trick;  conceal  the  real  watch  under  a  cloth  and 
place  the  toy  in  full  view  at  the  other  end  of  the 


68 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


stick.  To  those  uninitiated  the  ticking  to  be 
heard  will  appear  marvelous. 

THE  THREE  COLORS. 

That  liquids  are  of  different  densities  may  be 
easily  proved  by  taking  a  glass  and  pouring  into 


THE  THREE  COLORS. 


it  successively  water  colored  blue,  ordinary  oil, 
and  alcohol  of  a  red  hue.  These  three  liquids 
will  remain  stationary  in  layers  and  present  to 
the  eye  the  colors  of  the  national  flag.  Then  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  density  of  water 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


69 


being*  1,  the  densities  of  the  olive  oil  and  of  the 
alcohol  are  .0915  and  .0795  respectively  for  the 
three  liquids  superpose  themselves  in  the  order 
of  their  diminishing  density. 


A  PICTURE  OF  A  VOLCANO. 

This  is  another  experiment  based  on  the  den¬ 
sity  of  liquids.  Pour  some  wine  or  colored  alco- 


A  PICTURE  OF  A  VOLCANO. 


hol  into  a  bottle,  which  will  then  be  sealed  with 
a  cork  pierced  by  a  slender  tube,  a  straw  or  a 
quill.  Then  sink  the  bottle  very  cautiously  into 
a  glass  bowl  filled  with  water  and  you  will  soon 
observe  the  liquid  escaping  and  mounting  to  the 


70 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


surface  of  the  water,  describing  spirals  which 
resemble  smoke  and  which  present  a  very  strik¬ 
ing  likeness,  considerably  diminished,  of  a  vol¬ 
cano. 


COMPLIMENTARY  COLORS. 

Upon  a  sheet  of  paper  draw  two  rectangles, 
one  colored  red  and  the  other  green;  at  some 

A 


c  : 

e  ; 

B 

COMPLIMENTARY  COLORS. 

distance  from  the  rectangles  draw  two  large 
dots  as  indicated  in  the  cut,  C  C.  Then  against 
the  line  marked  A  B  hold  a  rectangular  plane 
about  as  thick  as  a  playing  card  and  from  io  to 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


7^ 

12  inches  in  height;  and,  placing  its  upper  end 
between  your  eyes,  fix  your  gaze  on  the  paper. 
You  will  soon  see  the  two  dots  approaching  each 
other,  finally  blending,  while  the  red  rectangle 
will  gradually  disappear,  being  little  by  little 
absorbed  by  the  green  rectangle. 

This  curious  optical  experiment  is  based  on 
complementary  colors.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  color  white  is  composed  of  the  seven  colors, 
red,  orange,  green,  yellow,  blue,  indigo  and  vio¬ 
let.  But  these  seven  colors  may  be  resolved  into 
three:  red,  yellow  and  blue,  so  that  either  one 
of  these  three  if  mixed  with  the  two  others  will 
form  white.  Thus  green  is  the  complement  of 
red,  that  is  to  say,  green  and  red  will  form  white 
since  green  is  produced  by  the  union  of  blue  and 
yellow;  blue  is  the  complement  of  orange  (com¬ 
posed  of  red  and  yellow);  and  violet  is  the  com¬ 
plement  of  yellow  (composed  of  red  and  blue). 

You  can  make  the  same  experiment  employ¬ 
ing  other  complementary  colors. 


THE  RECOMPOSITION  OF  LIGHT. 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  experiment  on 
complementary  colors  that  light  is  formed  by  the 
union  of  seven  colors.  When  a  ray  of  light  is 


72 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  RECOMPOSITION  OF  LIGHT, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


73 


passed  through  a  prism  it  is  decomposed  and  the 
image  received  presents  the  colors  of  the  rain¬ 
bow.  Now  in  physics  there  is  an  apparatus 
which  reproduces  the  white  light.  It  is  a  disk 
upon  which  the  colors  of  the  spectrum  are 
painted  and  which  one  turns  rapidly.  The  im¬ 
pression  received  in  looking  at  the  disk  in 
motion  is  the  absence  of  ail  color;  the  eye  per¬ 
ceives  white  light. 

Here  is  a  way  of  performing  that  experiment 
without  any  apparatus  save  a  round  card  and  a 
piece  of  twine.  Upon  the  card  paint  the  colors 
of  the  spectrum  in  the  following  order,  repeating 
them  four  or  five  times:  red,  orange,  yellow, 
green,  blue,  indigo,  violet.  Paint  them  in  the 
form  of  cones  with  the  apex  of  each  cone  in  the 
center  of  the  card,  and  in  the  following  propor¬ 
tion  as  to  size:  red  2J,  orange  1,  yellow  2^, 
green  2,  blue  2^,  indigo  ij.  Now  through  one 
of  the  diameters  of  the  card  bore  two  holes, 
through  which  draw  a  string,  knotting  the  ends 
together.  Then  pass  the  string  over  the  middle 
finger  of  each  hand  and  having  set  the  disk 
revolving,  alternately  make  your  hands  ap¬ 
proach  each  other  separate.  You  will  thus 
impart  a  strong  movement  to  the  disk  and  will 
be  able  to  reproduce  a  white  light. 


74 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  PHANTOM  PIN. 

In  studying  the  properties  of  the  reflection  of 


light  there  are  numberless  interesting  experi- 


THE  PHANTOM  PIN, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


/  o 

ments  to  be  performed.  A  few  are  herewith  pre¬ 
sented. 

Take  a  cork  and  cut  it  into  the  form  of  a  disk 
of  about  the  thickness  of  an  inch.  In  its  center 
stick  the  point  of  a  pin.  This  done  take  a  glass 
about  three-quarters  full  of  water  and  place  the 
cork  upon  the  surface  of  the  liquid  with  the  pin 
below. 

Now  if  you  will  look  at  the  cork  from  above 
you  will  not  see  the  pin  but  if  you  will  alter  your 
position  and  diminish  the  sense  of  the  visual  ray 
by  placing  the  eye  on  a  parallel  with  the  table 
on  which  the  glass  rests  you  will  perceive  a  pin 
above  the  cork. 

This  phenomenon  is  the  result  of  the  total 
reflection  which  has  been  produced.  The  pin  is 
reflected  on  the  surface  of  the  water  and  the 
visual  ray,  coming  just  to  that  level,  sees  the  pin 
exactly  as  if  it  were  upon  the  cork. 


AMPHITRITE. 

In  some  museums  there  are  shown  a  variety 
of  phantoms  which  present  very  remarkable  illu¬ 
sions.  One  of  these  is  the  spectacle  -of  a  woman 
who  appears  to  emerge  from  the  water,  rises  and 
moves  about  in  the  air  without  any  visible  means 


76 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


of  support.  She  seems  to  be  completely  isolated 
in  space;  she  revolves,  sometimes  accomplishing 


AMPHITRITE. 

a  perfect  circle,  moves  her  legs  and  her  arms, 
often  very  gracefully;  then,  after  numerous  evo- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


77 


lutions  in  all  directions,  assumes  an  erect  posture 
and  rapidly  descends,  appearing  to  plunge  back 
into  the  ocean.  This  spectacle  always  produces 
a  very  palpable  illusion  and  profound  astonish¬ 
ment. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  it  is  done: 

Behind  a  sheet  of  muslin  well  stretched  is 
placed  a  piece  of  scenery,  D  D,  representing  the 
sky  and  clouds,  while  below  on  a  horizontal 
plane  is  a  curtain  which  serves  as  the  ocean.  In 
front  in  a  line  with  G  G  there  is  a  mirror  without 
tin-foil  inclined  to  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees. 
Below  this  mirror  stands  a  round  table  moving 
on  a  pivot,  upon  which  lies  the  actress  who 
takes  the  part  of  Amphitrite.  In  order  that  the 
various  movements  may  be  executed,  the  table 
is  revolved,  reflecting  the  image  of  the  woman 
brilliantly  illuminated  in  the  glass,  and  the  spec¬ 
tators  situated  at  S,  will  see  her  before  the  cur¬ 
tain  at  D  D.  When  it  is  desired  to  make  the 
illusion  disappear  the  table,  which  glides  upon 
rails,  is  drawn  away  and  Amphitrite  seems  to 
sink  into  the  waves. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  the  spectacles  at  the 
theatres  are  produced,  and  very  curious  similar 
optical  illusions  may  be  obtained  at  home  by  re¬ 
ducing  the  construction  of  the  apparatus  to  the 


7« 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


simple  proportions  of  a  toy  theatre  with  pup¬ 
pets. 


ILLUSIONS  IN  OPTICS. 

A  large  number  of  experiments  may  be  made 
by  availing  one’s  self  of  optical  illusions. 

For  example,  ask  some  woman  wearing  a 
high  hat  to  indicate  its  height  on  the  wall  or  a 


piece  of  furniture,  and  nine  times  out  of  ten  she 
will  make  it  a  third  taller  than  it  really  is.  Fig- 


Fig.  54- 


ure  53  represents  two  triangles.  Inquire  of 
some  one  in  which  of  these  the  center  is  more 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


79 


nearly  shown  by  the  dot,  and  anyone  will  point 
to  the  triangle  A;  while  in  reality  it  is  the  triangle 


Fig.  55- 

B,  as  may  be  proved  by  a  pair  of  compasses.  It 


Fig.  56. 

is  the  same  with  the  succeeding  figures.  The 


two  parallelograms  A  B  are  absolutely  equal 
although  A  appears  to  be  larger  than  B.  The 


80  FUN  WITH  MAGIC 

two  lines  A  and  B  are  of  the  same  length  but 


ILLUSIONS  IN  OPTTCS. 


B  seems  about  a  third  shorter  than  A.  The 
sides  A  B,  C  D,  B  D,  etc.,  and  B  E,  A  M,  E  M, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


81 


etc.,  are  equal  while  it  appears  to  the  eye  that  the 
surface  A  B  E  M  is  longer  than  the  square  A  B 
C  D. 

For  the  experiment  with  the  circle,  trace  upon 
a  sheet  of  paper  a  series  of  circles  closer  and 
closer  together  as  they  approach  the  center. 
Then  place  the  paper  on  your  thumb,  revolving 
it  horizontally  and  it  will  appear  that  the  circles 
are  revolving;  the  illusion  will  be  complete. 

The  last  experiment  in  this  series  is  shown  by 
the  figures  of  the  three  men  in  the  illustration; 
which  is  the  largest,  the  first,  the  second  or  the 
third?  Try  to  find  out  by  means  of  the  naked 
eye  and  it  will  seem  at  first  that  the  last  is  the 
tallest.  Measure  them  with  the  points  of  a  com¬ 
pass  and  your  illusion  will  be  dispelled.  Begin¬ 
ning  with  the  foremost  the  figures  decrease  in 
height. 


A  SIMPLE  EXPERIMENT  WITH  STATIC 

ELECTRICITY. 

We  shall  now  have  some  experiments  with 
electricity  which  are  easy  of  execution. 

A  piece  of  paper  will  enable  us  tQ  perform  the 
first  experiment  with  static  electricity.  Take  a 
strong  piece  of  white  paper  and  heat  it  lightly  so 


82 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


as  to  expel  every  trace  of  humidity.  This  done, 
rub  it  with  flannel  or  a  cloth,  although  the  flan¬ 
nel  is  preferable,  or  you  can  use  the  palm  of  your 


Fig.  59- 


hand  if  that  is  dry.  Now  hold  the  flannel  near 
the  paper  and  you  will  see  that  the  former  is 
attracted,  a  proof  that  the  two  bodies  are 
charged  with  the  contrary  poles  of  electricity, 
because  they  both  attracted  a  light  body  not 
electrified. 

You  can  verify  these  facts  very  simply.  When 
the  paper  has  been  rubbed,  tear  it  into  two  pieces 
and  then  try  to  place  their  edges  together. 
However,  since  both  are  charged  with  electricity 
of  the  same  pole,  they  will  repel  each  other. 
Hold  a  pen  near  one  and  all  its  electricity  will 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


83 


escape  into  the  pen,  making-  the  paper  quiver 
slightly  in  doing  so,  and  then,  being  no  longer 
charged  with  electricity,  it  will  be  attracted  by 


A  SIMPLE  EXPERIMENT  WITH  STATIC  ELECTRICITY. 

the  other  piece  of  paper.  In  a  dark  room  an 
electric  spark  will  be  visible. 

Here  is  another  way  of  showing  that  the 
paper  has  been  electrified  by  the  friction.  Bal¬ 
ance  a  pencil  on  the  edge  of  a  table.  If  you  will 
approach  with  the  paper  which  has  been  rubbed 
you  will  see  the  pencil  inclining  toward  it,  per¬ 
haps  losing  its  balance  and  falling. 


MAGNETIC  ATTRACTION. 

Provide  yourself  with  a  simple  magnet,  place 
it  upright  as  indicated  in  the  figure,  fastening  it 
to  the  table  with  some  wax  or  gum.  Then  take 
a  steel  needle  and  a  woman’s  hair,  tying  each 


84 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


end  of  the  needle  with  an  end  of  the  hair.  Stand 
in  front  of  the  magnet,  at  a  distance  of  about 


MAGNETIC  ATTRACTION. 

i-io  of  an  inch,  a  pin,  to  the  middle  of  which 
you  will  glue  the  middle  of  the  hair  folded  in 
two.  The  needle  will  be  attracted  by  the  mag¬ 
net,  but  being  held  by  the  hair  will  remain  sus¬ 
pended  by  the  attraction. 

This  experiment,  inexpensive  and  interesting, 
can  be  successfully  performed  with  the  exercise 
of  a  little  patience. 


THE  MAGNETIC  SPECTER. 

Take  a  piece  of  paper  about  ten  inches  square 
and  coat  it  over  with  table  or  castor  oil,  the  lat- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


85 


ter  being  preferable.  Upon  this  then  pour  out  a 
number  of  iron  filings,  laying  a  magnet  over 
them.  In  gently  separating  the  magnet  from 


THE  MAGNETIC  SPECTER. 


the  paper  you  will  obtain  what  in  physics  is 
called  a  “magnetic  specter.’’  A  design  is  formed 
as  indicated  in  the  illustration  which  may  be 
preserved  an  indefinite  time  because  the  filings 
will  adhere  to  the  paper  by  means  of  the  oil. 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM. 

The  following  very  simple  apparatus  will 
serve  to  verify  the  fact  of  animal  magnetism  in 


86 


•  FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


an  experimental  way.  Stick  a  needle  into  a  cork, 
the  point  in  the  air.  Upon  this  as  a  pivot  lay  a 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM. 

sheet  of  paper  which  should  be  perfectly  bal¬ 
anced  in  a  horizontal  position.  If  now  you  will 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


87 


place  your  hand  above  the  paper  you  will 
observe  it  manifesting  a  rotary  movement, 
changing  its  position  either  to  the  right  or  to 
the  left.  This  motion  is  caused  by  the  magnetic 
influence  of  the  hand. 


PRINCIPLE  OF  A  GALVANIC  BATTERY. 

A  dozen  pennies  and  as  many  circular  pieces 
of  cloth  and  zinc  are  the  only  materials  necessary 


PRINCIPLE  OF  A  GALVANIC  BATTERY. 

for  constructing  a  galvanic  battery. .  Form  a  pile 
with  the  three,  placing  down  first  a  zinc  piece, 
then  a  penny,  and  lastly  a  circle  of  the  cloth  and 
so  on  until  the  top,  which  will  end  with  a  penny. 


88 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Bind  all  together  with  a  string  and  steep  it  in 
very  strong  vinegar  to  which  may  be  added  a 
few  drops  of  acetic  acid,  although  that  is  not 
necessary  if  the  vinegar  is  sufficiently  good. 
Attach  to  the  zinc  piece  at  the  bottom  of  the  pile 
a  piece  of  brass  wire,  and  another  to  the  penny 
at  the  top,  in  that  way  obtaining  two  conductors 
the  one  for  negative  electricity  the  other  for 
positive  electricity.  Naturally  the  current  will 
not  be  very  strong  but  it  will  nevertheless  have 
enough  force  to  perform  the  following  experi¬ 
ments  successfully: 

Unite  the  two  wires  on  the  tongue;  a  light 
pricking  sensation  will  be  felt. 

Unite  the  wires  above  a  mariner’s  needle  and 
it  will  deviate  from  its  position. 

Lastly  make  the  wires  approach  each  other  in 
a  dark  room  and  tiny  electric  sparks  will  be 
visible.  . 


A  BATTERY  WITH  A  LEMON. 

Take  an  ordinary  lemon  and  with  it  you  can 
make  an  electric  battery. 

Slice  off  one  end  leaving  about  two-thirds  of 
the  lemon;  sink  the  blade  of  a  knife  into  each 
compartment  so  as  to  destroy  the  minute  inte- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


89 


rior  fibres,  being  careful  however  not  to  cut  into 
the  walls  of  the  different  compartments.  Set  the 
lemon  in  an  egg-cup  or  a  glass.  Then  prepare 


A  BATTERY  WITH  A  LEMON. 

tiny  pieces  of  copper  about  four  inches  long,  or, 
in  default  of  a  sheet  of  copper  take  copper  wire; 
make  zinc  pieces  of  the  same  length.  Place  a 
piece  of  zinc  and  a  piece  of  copper  in  each  com¬ 
partment,  not  allowing  them  to  touch  each 
other.  With  a  very  fine  copper  wire  you  will 
then  tie  the  zinc  piece  of  one  compartment  to 
the  copper  piece  of  the  next  throughout  the 
lemon  until  there  remains  one  free  piece  of  each 


90 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


metal.  You  will  thus  have  a  positive  pole  of 
copper  and  a  negative  pole  of  zinc. 

This  battery  of  many  elements,  for  it  has  as 
many  elements  as  there  are  compartments  in 
the  fruit,  may  be  utilized,  among  other  experi¬ 
ments,  for  demonstrating  the  deviation  of  the 
magnetic  needle,  the  decomposition  of  water, 
etc.,  etc.  You  can  test  its  action  by  placing  the 
two  poles  upon  your  tongue,  thus  producing  a 
salty  taste,  which  will  indicate  to  you  that  some 
electricity  has  been  liberated. 

The  application  is  simple:  the  juice  of  the  lem¬ 
on  being  acid  the  zinc  is  attacked  and  frees  hy¬ 
drogen,  which,  combined  with  the  oxygen  of  the 
liquid,  attacks  in  its  turn  the  copper.  As  in 
every  chemical  action,  there  is  a  liberation  of 
electricity,  it  is  only  necessary  to  receive  it. 
Such  is  the  principle  of  the  lemon  battery. 


ELECTRIC  ATTRACTION  AND  REPUL¬ 
SION. 

It  is  well  known  that  poles  of  the  same  name 
repel  each  other,  and  that  those  of  contrary 
names  attract  each  other;  in  other  words,  nega¬ 
tive  or  positive  electricity  attracts  electricity  of 
the  opposite  sign  and  repels  that  of  the  same 
sign. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


9i 


This  principle  may  be  demonstrated  by  con¬ 
structing  a  little  toy  which  will  at  the  same  time 
be  interesting  to  see  in  operation. 


ELECTRIC  ATTRACTION  AND  REPULSION. 

Plant  a  needle  into  a  cork  by  way  of  a  pivot; 
then  take  two  old  corset  steels,  or,  if  they  are 
not  convenient,  the  spring  of  a  clock,  and  mag¬ 
netize  them  by  means  of  a  magnetic  bar  or  a 
machine.  In  the  middle  of  one  of  the  steels 
make  a  slight  indenture  so  that  the  needle  can 
turn  freely  in  the  cork  without  danger  of  falling. 


92 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


You  will  then  have  constructed  a  mariner’s 
needle  or  compass. 

Next  cut  out  four  little  paper  dolls,  two  men 
and  two  women,  and  place  a  pair  on  each  steel, 
one  person  at  each  end. 

Now  every  time  that  you  present  one  of  the 
men  to  the  other  they  will  be  repelled,  while  if 
you  present  a  woman  to  him  they  too  will  be 
attracted. 

The  explanation  is  simple.  You  must  only  be 
careful  to  place  the  men  and  women  on  the  con¬ 
trary  poles,  the  men  on  the  positive  poles  and 
the  women  on  the  negative,  or  vice  versa.  You 
will  then  be  able  to  demonstrate  the  principle 
mentioned  above. 

An  amusing  variation  may  be  had  by  naming 
the  dolls  for  people  present  and  by  illustrating 
antipathy  as  well  as  affinity  between  the  men 
and  women. 


METALLIC  COLORS. 

The  production  of  the  circles  of  Nobili  form 
a  very  simple  and  very  entertaining  electric- 
chemical  experiment  which  requires  but  two 
batteries  or  else  a  magnetic-electrical  machine, 
in  order  to  insure  success. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


93 


The  best  results  in  variety  and  brilliancy  of 
color  are  secured  by  the  use  of  a  Bunsen  or  a 
Grenet  battery.  Place  in  a  common  saucer  or 
plate  a  piece  of  steel  or  nickel  which  by  means 


METALLIC  COLORS. 

of  a  brass  wire  is  put  into  communication  with 
the  negative  pole.  The  bottom  of  the  plate  is 
in  a  similar  manner  made  to  communicate  with 
the  positive  pole.  Then  pour  over  the  steel  a 
solution  of  acetate  of  lead.  The  wire  connecting 
with  the  saucer  should  be  very  near  the  steel 
without  touching  it,  as  indicated  in  the  cut.  In 
a  moment  a  speck  of  color  will  appear  upon  the 
metal  and  soon  after  will  expand  rapidly,  form- 


94 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ing  into  concentric  rings  of  prismatic  hues  with 
the  most  curious  effect. 

With  a  little  practice  you  can  determine  the 


Fig.  68. 


time  necessary  for  obtaining  the  best  colors  and 
for  varying  the  effects  thus  obtained.  You 
must  be  careful  to  wash  the  metal  sheet  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  experiment  and  to  dry  it. 

The  colors  are  due  to  the  decomposition  of 
light  by  the  excess  of  peroxide  of  lead  disposed 
upon  the  surface  of  the  metal.  In  order  to  ob¬ 
tain  the  best  effects  the  metal  should  be  carefully 
polished  and  the  solution  of  lead  filtered  with 
care. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


95 


You  can  produce  a  variety  of  forms  in  color 
by  placing  upon  the  metal  sheet  brass  wire 
curved  into  the  desired  shapes,  letters  or  fanciful 
designs. 

The  circles  of  Nobili  resemble  Newton’s  rings; 
the  colors  are  strong  and  of  an  agreeable  appear¬ 
ance.  That  celebrated  physician  discovered  the 
phenomenon  in  1826;  since  that  date  different 
variations  have  been  reported.  They  are  much 
in  use  for  the  ornamentation  of  small  objects 
like  buttons,  trinkets  and  jewelry. 


THE  WEIGHT  OF  STEAM  CONTAINED 

IN  THE  AIR. 

Take  an  ordinary  bottle  and  cork  it  with  a 
cork  which  has  previously  been  pierced  with 
two  holes.  Through  one  of  these  pass  a  tube 
A,  which  will  just  reach  to  the  lower  surface 
of  the  cork,  and  through  the  other  the  tube  C, 
which  will  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  bottle,  and 
which  will  be  connected  by  a  rubber  tube  B  to 
the  glass  cylinder  O.  The  cylinder  is  filled  with 
powdered  pumice-stone  steeped  in  sulphuric 
acid.  The  apparatus  thus  disposed  is  ready  to 
operate.  When  you  wish  to  compute  the 
amount  of  vapor  in  the  atmosphere,  weigh  the 


96 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


tube  O,  containing  the  pumice-stone,  and  re¬ 
place  it  in  its  former  position;  then  fill  the  bot- 


A 

a 


THE  WEIGHT  OF  STEAM  CONTAINED  IN  THE  AIR. 


tie  with  water  and  turn  it  upside  down.  The 
liquid  will  flow  out  by  the  tube  A  and  the  air 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


97 


will  enter  through  the  tube  C,  relinquishing 
its  humidity  in  the  cylinder  O.  When  the  bot¬ 
tle  will  be  entirely  empty  you  will  only  need 
to  weigh  the  cylinder  a  second  time  and  you 
will  have  the  weight  of  the  humidity  contained 
in  a  pint  of  air.  A  simple  calculation  will  en¬ 
able  you  to  establish  a  proportion. 


METALLIC  ARBORIZATIONS. 

Place  some  crystals  of  sulphate  of  iron  in 
a  flask  containing  a  solution  of  silicate  of  potas¬ 
sium.  After  a  day  of  repose  there  will  be  pro¬ 
duced  an  arborescent  crystallization  which  will 
give  birth  to  dark  green  branches.  Sulphate  of 
cobalt  will  produce  rose-colored  branches,  and 
sulphate  of  copper  will  produce  branches  of  a 
beautiful  blue  tint. 


INSTANTANEOUS  CRYSTALLIZA¬ 
TIONS. 

Prepare  two  very  strong  solutions,  one  of 
hyposulphite  of  soda  and  one  of  acetate  of  lead. 

Pour  the  first  solution  gently  into  a  phial, 
then  the  second  over  it  so  as  to  form  an  upper 
layer  without  mingling  with  the  solution  be- 


98 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


neath  it.  When  all  is  well  settled  pass  a  crystal 
of  hyposulphite  of  soda  into  the  solutions  by 
means  of  a  string,  and  it  will  traverse  the  upper 
layer  of  lead  without  disturbing  it,  but  as  soon 
as  it  penetrates  the  hyposulphate  it  will  crystal¬ 
lize  that  salt  immediately.  You  can  proceed  in 
the  same  way  with  the  acetate  of  lead,  and  it 
will  be  crystallized  in  its  turn. 


VOLCANOES  IN  MINIATURE. 

Place  in  the  bottom  of  a  large  porcelain  bowl 


VOLCANOES  IN  MINIATURE. 


some  nitrate  of  lead,  over  which  pour  sal  am¬ 
moniac.  Numberless  little  elevations  will  im- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


99 


mediately  be  formed,  from  whose  summits  dust 
and  vapors  will  emerge,  presenting  a  striking 
likeness  to  volcanoes  in  eruption. 

A  RUDIMENTARY  GAS  BURNER. 

Fill  a  round  tin  box  with  sawdust  and  bits  of 


A  RUDIMENTARY  GAS  BURNER. 


thick  blotting  paper,  using  for  your  box  an  old 
shoe-blacking  box  or  something  similar  which 


100 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


will  have  a  height  of  at  least  2  inches;  close  it 
as  tightly  as  possible  and  introduce  into  the 
lid  a  small  metal  or  glass  tube,  letting  it  pene¬ 
trate  into  the  box  a  distance  of  about  one-third 
the  latter’s  height.  Seal  the  juncture  with  putty. 
Then  place  the  box  upon  two  supports  and 
below  it  light  a  candle.  Soon  the  sawdust  and 
blotting-paper,  being  overheated,  will  liberate 
alcoholic  vapors  and  combustible  gases.  Hold 
a  lighted  match  to  the  top  of  the  tube  and  you 
will  see  the  gas  ignite  and  continue  to  burn. 


CAMPHOR  IN  WATER. 

If  you  will  throw  some  bits  of  camphor  upon 
water,  you  will  find  that  they  will  immediately 
revolve  with  great  rapidity,  the  one  about  the 
other.  These  movements  are  due  to  the  diminu¬ 
tion  of  the  superficial  tension  of  the  liquid  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  camphor.  To  stop  them, 
simply  toss  a  drop  of  oil  upon  the  water  and 
you  will  have  a  calm  surface. 

You  can  utilize  the  camphor  in  a  very  enter¬ 
taining  amusement.  Construct  a  small  boat  of 
paper  or  cardboard  and  to  the  lower  part  of  its 
stern  attach  a  bit  of  camphor.  Set  afloat  upon 
the  water;  it  will  perform  a  series  of  evolutions 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


IOI 


which  will  be  utterly  inexplicable  to  those  who 
have  not  been  informed  of  its  means  of  locomo¬ 
tion,  and  who  will  long  search  in  vain  for  the 
secret. 


HOW  TO  MAKE  ICE. 

Stand  a  receiver  containing  the  water  which 
is  to  be  frozen  in  a  pail,  and  around  it  pour  a 
mixture  of  8  parts  of  sodium  sulphate  with  5 
parts  of  hydrochloric  acid.  This  will  produce  a 
cold  of  about  15  to  18  degrees  below  zero. 

Or  you  can  make  a  solution  of  1  part  of  ni¬ 
trate  of  ammonia  with  1  part  of  water. 

In  winter,  when  you  have  the  snow  at  your 
disposal,  you  can  take  1  part  of  snow  to  1  part 
of  calcium  chloride  (common  sea  salt)  and  ob¬ 
tain  a  temperature  of  20  degrees  below  zero. 


HOW  TO  CUT  A  BOTTLE  WITH  A  PIECE 

OF  TWINE. 

First  paste  two  paper  cushions  around  the 
bottle,  one  on  each  side  of  the  place  which 
you  wish  to  cut.  The  cushions  should  be  made 
by  gluing  successive  layers  of  paper  one  on  top 
of  the  other  and  leaving  a  groove  ‘between  the 


102 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


two  cushions  for  the  twine.  Take  the  two  ex- 


HOW  TO  CUT  A  BOTTLE  WITH  A  PIECE  OF  TWINE. 


tremities  of  the  string,  one  in  each  hand,  and 
move  it  briskly  to  and  fro  so  as  to  heat  the 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


103 


glass  below.  When  you  think  the  latter  has 
become  sufficiently  hot,  plunge  the  bottle  into 
cold  water,  which  you  will  have  within  your 
reach,  and  you  will  see  that  it  is  neatly  severed 
where  the  twine  exercised  its  friction.  You  will 
require  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  heat  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  thickness  of  the  glass.  This  proc¬ 
ess  is  infallible. 

There  is  another  way  of  obtaining  the  same 
result;  it  is  by  dropping  water  on  the  string  as 
soon  as  the  necessary  amount  of  heat  has  been 
secured.  You  will  have  to  be  careful  to  moisten 
the  twine  thoroughly,  and  you  can  then  be  cer¬ 
tain  that  the  break  will  be  as  clean  cut  as  by 
the  preceding  method. 


THE  BRIDGE  OF  ASSES. 

All  pupils  are  familiar  with  the  famous  theo¬ 
rem  in  geometry  which  is  known  as  the  Pons 
Asinorum,  or  “Bridge  of  Asses/'  and  which 
runs  thus:  “The  square  on  the  hypotenuse  of 
a  right-angled  triangle  is  equal  to  the  sum  of 
the  squares  on  the  other  two  sides.” 

Here  is  a  way  of  establishing  its  truth,  a  way 
which,  if  not  strictly  pedagogical,  is  neverthe¬ 
less  accurate; 


104 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  BRIDGE  OF  ASSES. 


Fig-  74- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


105 

Trace  a  square  upon  a  piece  of  cardboard  or 
stout  paper  and  divide  it  into  49  equal  smaller 
squares.  This  done,  cut  it  out  along  the  lines 
indicated  in  the  illustration  by  the  heavy  mark¬ 
ing,  and  remove  from  the  center  a  square,  which 
you  will  add  to  the  square  D.  Then  construct 
the  figure  shown  in  74,  when  you  will  have  a 
right-angled  triangle  ACD,  formed  by  the  sides 
of  the  three  squares;  and  the  sum  of  the  two 
small  squares  erected  upon  the  two  sides  of  the 
triangle  will  be  equal  to  the  large  square  erected 
upon  the  hypotenuse  AD. 

You  have  in  reality: 

One  square  of  9  parts. 

One  square  of  16  parts. 

The  two  equal  25  parts. 

And  the  large  square  C  contains  25  parts. 
Sa  your  theorem  has  been  established. 


ANOTHER  WAY  OF  DEMONSTRATING 
THE  SAME  THEOREM. 

Draw  four  similar  and  equal  triangles  in  a 
square  ABCD,  and  cut  them  out  and  arrange 
them  as  indicated  in  the  first  of  the  accompany¬ 
ing  illustrations.  You  will  then  have  in  the 
middle  a  vacant  space  forming  a  large  square, 


io6 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


which  will  have  for  one  of  its  sides  the  hypote¬ 
nuse  of  the  right-angled  triangle  AEB.  Trace 
the  outlines  of  this  square  and  rearrange  the 


ANOTHER  WAY  OF  DEMONSTRATING  THE  SAME 

THEOREM. 

triangles,  placing  one  against  the  other  HCE 
against  AEB,  and  CDG  against  BFG,  obtaining 
the  second  figure  in  the  illustration.  The  cov¬ 
ered  and  the  uncovered  parts  of  the  two  squares 
have  not  changed  in  extent,  but  this  time  the 
part  not  covered  is  formed  by  the  two  squares 


FUN  WITH.  MAGIC 


107 


2  and  3,  which  correspond  to  those  constructed 
upon  the  two  other  sides  of  the  triangle  AEB. 
This  very  simple  demonstration  has  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  being-able  to  be  applied  to  any  triangle 
whatever. 


RE-ENTERING  ANGLES. 

Take  two  rectangular  sheets  of  paper  of  the 
same  size  and  fold  both  into  four  equal  parts, 

i  2  3  h  _ _ 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Fig.  76.  Fig.  77. 


the  one  lengthwise  and  the  other  crosswise  as 
shown  in  the  cuts  76  and  77.  The  papers  thus 
folded,  detach  one  of  the  folds,  that  is,  one- 
fourth  part,  A,  of  each  paper. 


io8 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


The  question  now  at  stake  is  the  exact  cov¬ 
ering  of  one  of  the  remaining  surfaces  by  means 
of  the  other,  the  latter  being  cut  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  into  two  identically  equal  portions. 


Fig.  78. 


Fig.  79. 


RE-ENTERING  ANGLES. 


The  two  sections  A  being  detached,  the  ques¬ 
tion  is  solved  if  you  will  take  the  sheet  which 
you  are  going  to  use  as  a  covering  for  the  other, 
and  fold  it  anerw  into  four  equal  parts,  but  this 
time  in  the  direction  opposite  to  that  in  which 
it  was  previously  folded,  as  illustrated  in  the  cut 
78.  Then  cut  it  out,  following  the  dotted  line 
FL,  and  you  will  have  two  precisely  equal  divi¬ 
sions. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


109 


You  can  now  cover  the  other  sheet  of  paper 
by  simply  fitting  the  angles  into  each  other, 
placing  the  face  of  the  angle  a '  into  the  face  of 
the  angle  a,  the  angle  b'  into  b,  c'  into  c.  This 
done,  the  two  surfaces  will  be  absolutely  similar 
and  may  be  covered  the  one  over  the  other. 

In  this  example  the  figure  78  has  been  used 
to  cover  77,  but  77  can  be  made  to  cover  76  in 
exactly  the  same  manner.  The  operation  ended 
as  just  described,  the  part  M  of  the  figure  78 
will  correspond  to  M'  in  figure  79,  and  O  to  O'. 


TRACING  PARALLEL  HATCHINGS. 

Linear  and  architectural  designs  frequently 
require  the  tracing  of  parallel  hatchings;  here 
is  a  way  of  doing  so  with  the  greatest  regular¬ 
ity. 

Take  a  flat  ruler  AB  and  a  square  CDE.  In 
the  ruler  make  an  indenture  hijf,  the  length  i  f 
being  somewhat  exceeding  the  side  CD  of  the 
square,  and  being  increased  according  to  the 
distance  which  you  wish  to  have  between  the 
hatchings.  Your  materials  so  arranged,  pro¬ 
ceed  as  follows. 

Place  your  square  in  the  niche  made  in  the 
ruler  so  that  it  will  occupy  the  position  m'h'E; 


no  FUN  WITH  MAGIC 

A 


A' 


TRACING  PARALLEL  HATCHINGS, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


hi 


you  will  trace  your  first  line  i'E  along  the  length 
of  the  square  h'e  without  budging  the  ruler. 
Then  slide  your  square  along  until  D  touches  g' 
and  trace  your  second  line  h"E'.  Now  let  the 
square  remain  stationary  and  first  move  your 
ruler,  afterward  bringing  the  square  into  posi¬ 
tion  for  the  third  line,  and  continue  in  this 
way,  alternately  moving  the  square  and  the 
ruler.  You  will  obtain  perfect  hatchings  and 
without  any  danger  of  having  them  badly 
drawn. 


HOW  TO  DRAW  A  SPIRAL. 

The  geometrical  process  for  drawing  a  spiral 
by  means  of  a  compass  is  extremely  lengthy. 
A  very  practical  and  easy  method  is  herewith 
given. 

Take  a  wooden  or  cardboard  cylinder  A, 
whose  diameter  is  equal  to  one-fourth  the  dis¬ 
tance  of  the  spires  which  you  wish  to  draw. 
Around  this  cylinder  wind  a  twine  B,  one  end 
being  fastened  to  the  cylinder  and  the  other  to 
a  pen  or  pencil,  whichever  you  wish  to  use. 

It  is  now  only  necessary  to  revolve  the  pencil 
either  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  according  to 
the  direction  you  desire  the  spiral  to  take,  keep- 


1 12 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ing  the  string  tense,  and  a  spiral  of  perfect  reg¬ 
ularity  will  be  produced.  The  accompanying 


HOW  TO  DRAW  A  SPIRAL, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ii3 

cut  will  illustrate  with  ease  how  this  may  be  ac¬ 
complished. 


THE  PERSPECTOGRAPH. 

This  simple  instrument,  the  invention  of  a 
Frenchman,  renders  the  tracing  of  a  design  a 
very  easy  matter,  its  principal  advantage  being 
the  fact  that  it  makes  faults  in  perspective  ab¬ 
solutely  impossible.  Thanks  to  that  gentleman, 
objects  on  different  planes  may  be  readily  and 
exactly  reproduced  on  a  single  plane. 

Here  is  the  description  of  this  useful  con¬ 
trivance: 

A  frame  of  wood  ABCD,  through  which, 
from  the  side  AB,  a  plate  of  glass  can  be  passed, 
filling  the  space  of  the  sash  abed.  The  frame  is 
fixed  upon  some  support  and  held  in  a  perfectly 
horizontal  position,  which  is  gauged  by  a  water- 
level  nn'  placed  at  the  base  of  the  frame.  At 
the  point  E  is  a  small  ruler,  movable  about  a 
hinge  at  E,  and  whose  angle  with  the  plane  of 
ABCD  can  be  made  to  vary  by  resting  it  on 
two  supports  ee',  themselves  movable  about  an 
axis  fixed  upon  the  little  ruler.  At  the  extrem¬ 
ity  E'  of  the  ruler  is  fastened  a  copper  blade,  bent 
in  the  direction  E'C',  and  pierced  by  a  hole 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


1 14 

about  1-10  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  edges 
of  the  blade  are  made  smaller,  as  indicated  in 


Fig.  83. 


the  cross-section  above  in  the  accompanying 
illustration. 

Such  is  the  main  part  of  the  apparatus;  now 
for  the  accessories.  The  plate  of  glass  which  is 
to  be  placed  in  the  frame  should  be  submitted 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


US 

to  a  preparatory  process.  Choose  a  plate  of  the 
desired  size,  which  will  vary  according  to  the 
dimensions  of  the  design  to  be  drawn,  letting 
the  glass  be  as  free  as  possible  from  defects,  and 
coat  it  over  on  one  side  with  spirits  of  turpen¬ 
tine,  which  is  a  natural  polish.  Make  the  coat¬ 
ing  of  polish  as  thin  as  practicable  by  washing 
the  glass  with  a  very  supple  brush  dipped  in 
the  turpentine.  When  you  see  that  the  polish 
does  not  run  and  clings  to  the  surface,  lay  aside 
your  brush  and  set  the  glass  to  dry,  for  two 
days  if  necessary,  taking  care  not  to  expose  it 
to  dust. 

The  instrument  is  now  ready  for  use.  Place 
it  before  the  object  to  be  drawn,  establish  the 
horizontal  position  of  the  frame,  slip  in  the 
glass  and  so  arrange  the  little  rule  that  through 
the  small  hole  O  you  can  see  the  object  in 
question  as  you  wish  to  have  it.  Then  with 
your  crayon  trace  the  outlines  of  the  object  upon 
the  glass,  whose  polished  surface  will  render  it 
sensitive  to  the  touch  of  the  crayon.  It  is  ob¬ 
vious  that  you  will  have  perfectly  accurate  out¬ 
lines  if  you  can  draw  the  object  exactly  as  you 
see  it;  but  the  principal  purpose  of  the  apparatus 
is  not  to  obtain  exactness  of  contour,  but  rather 
a  correct  presentation  of  the  different  sizes  of 


ii6 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


objects  placed  on  different  planes.  This  can 
be  understood  by  the  aid  of  the  cut. 


Let  AB  be  an  object  situated  at  a  certain 
distance  from  the  eye,  which  is  at  o,  the  visual 


THE  PERSPECTOGRAPH 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ii7 

rays  OAOB  striking  the  apparatus  at  a  and  b, 
and  the  image  of  that  object  being  represented 
by  the  line  ab. 

Now,  suppose  that  an  object  A'B'  to  be  situ¬ 
ated  beyond  AB;  the  eye  has  not  changed  its 
place  and  its  position  cannot  vary  with  reference 
to  the  glass  because  the  little  ruler  is  fixed. 
The  image  of  the  object  A'B'  will  be  at 
a'b',  giving  you  the  true  dimensions  of  A'B' 
with  respect  to  AB,  precisely  the  proportion 
which  ought  to  exist  between  the  sizes  of  ob¬ 
jects  lying  in  different  planes  and  termed  “per¬ 
spective."  The  apparatus  is  therefore  properly 
named  the  perspectograph. 

You  will  see  that  by  means  of  this  little  in¬ 
strument  two  difficulties  are  obviated:  (1)  that 
of  the  exactness  of  the  design,  which  becomes  a 
perfect  copy  of  things  as  they  appear  to  the  eye, 
and  (2)  that  of  perspective. 

Your  picture  may  be  transferred  from  the 
glass  upon  which  you  have  drawn  it  to  paper; 
you  need  only  raise  the  small  ruler,  being  care¬ 
ful  not  to  bend  it  in  doing  so,  place  a  sheet  of 
oiled  paper  on  the  glass  and  trace  the  outlines. 
Then  you  can  glue  the  paper  to  a  card,  and,  if 
you  are  anything  of  an  artist,  finish  your  draw¬ 
ing  with  taste  in  regard  to  shading  and  similar 


n8 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


points;  for  the  apparatus  does  not  impart  an 
artistic  touch  to  a  picture,  but  merely  accuracy 
and  correct  perspective. 

You  can  transfer  the  design,  if  you  wish,  a 
second  time,  if  you  prefer  not  to  retain  it  on 
the  oiled  paper;  for  if  you  have  an  accurate 
picture  of  an  object  it  is  a  simple  matter  for 
any  one  with  practice  in  drawing  to  reproduce 
it  in  free-hand. 

The  plate  of  glass  may  be  used  a  second  time 
if  you  will  wash  it  in  cold  water  and  let  it  dry, 
then  recoat  it  with  the  varnish. 


ASCERTAINING  THE  HEIGHT  OF  AN 
EDIFICE  OR  A  MOUNTAIN. 

The  height  of  an  edifice  or  of  a  mountain  may 
be  computed  without  any  instruments,  the  only 
condition  necessary  being  the  power  to  ap¬ 
proach  the  base.  A  foot-rule  and  two  sticks  will 
suffice.  Suppose  the  height  of  the  tower  EF 
be  the  distance  to  be  taken. 

At  some  distance  from  the  base  we  plant  a 
rod  AB  about  a  yard  high;  and  about  a  yard 
away  we  place  another  stick,  somewhat  higher, 
CD.  We  must  now  measure  the  distance  BF. 
Applying  the  eye  to  A,  we  will  look  to  the  sum- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


1 19 

mit  of  the  tower  E.  Upon  the  stick  CD  we  will 
mark  the  spot  where  our  visual  ray  cuts  this 
stick,  G  representing  that  point.  Then  by  meas- 


ASCERTAINING  THE  HEIGHT  OF  AN  EDIFICE  OR  A 

MOUNTAIN. 

uring  the  distance  DG  and  subtracting  the 
height  of  AB  we  shall  have  GI.  We  can  now 
conclude  the  problem  with  ease  with  the  fol¬ 
lowing  proportion: 

AH  :  AI  ::  EH  :  GI. 


A  PRACTICAL  WAY  OF  FINDING  A 

MERIDIAN. 

A  meridian  of  a  place  means  the  imaginary 
line  passing  through  that  place  and  through 


120 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


the  center  of  the  sun  when  the  latter  has  ar¬ 
rived  at  the  arc  of  the  circle  which  it  describes 


A  PRACTICAL  WAY  OF  FINDING  A  MERIDIAN. 

daily;  at  that  moment  it  is  midday  for  the  place 
in  question. 

Since  the  position  of  the  earth  changes  every 
day,  the  sun  does  not  reach  the  meridian  each 
day  exactly  at  noon;  sometimes  it  is  in  advance 
and  sometimes  it  is  late. 

Many  apparatuses  have  been  constructed  with 
the  purpose  of  presenting  a  practical  manner  of 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


121 


indicating'  the  meridian  of  a  place.  We  owe  the 
following  method  to  M.  E.  Brunner. 

Upon  the  sill  of  a  window  exposed  to  the 
noontide  sun  fasten  securely  a  little  cup  filled 
with  mercury.  Cover  it  with  a  small  sheet  of 
varnished  metal  pierced  in  the  center  by  a  tiny 
round  opening  about  half  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  lid  should  be  indented  so  that  it  can  be 
readily  lowered  to  the  surface  of  the  liquid. 
The  window  open,  the  solar  ray  reflected  by 
the  bath  of  mercury  will  be  projected  upon  the 
ceiling  of  the  room.  When  it  is  real  noon  the 
center  of  the  mirror  and  the  center  of  the  re¬ 
flected  image  are  in  the  plane  of  the  meridian. 
It  only  remains  to  make  your  drawing.  At  the 
moment  of  the  passage,  note  at  B,  for  example, 
a  point  corresponding  to  the  center  of  the 
image;  drive  a  tack  there,  and  with  a  string 
connect  the  point  B  with  another  point  out¬ 
side  the  window  in  such  a  way  that  the  string 
will  pass  through  the  center  of  the  diaphragm 
M.  The  line  BM  is  in  the  plane  of  the  meridian. 
At  A  stretch  a  plumb  line  which  will  meet  the 
line  BM.  Now  join  upon  the  ceiling  the  two 
points  AB  and  continue  as  far  as  D.  Draw  a 
heavy  line  or  stretch  a  dark  thread  across.  The 
meridian  is  established. 


122 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


In  order  to  ascertain  the  average  hour,  you 
need  simply  to  note  the  exact  moment  of  pas¬ 
sage  and  to  deduct  the  daily  corrections  which 
appear  in  almanacs  and  in  the  reports  of  the 
Weather  Bureau. 


A  FILTER. 

In  this  century  of  microbes  it  will  scarcely  be 
disagreeable  to  read  of  a  plan  for  constructing 
a  simple  filter  for  water. 

Procure  a  strong  wooden  box  and  divide  it 
into  three  compartments,  A,  B,  C,  as  indicated 
in  the  cut.  In  compartment  A  first  place  a 
layer  of  large  pebbles,  which  will  diminish  in 
size  as  they  approach  the  top,  finishing  with 
a  layer  of  fine  sand;  above  lay  a  stratum  of  char¬ 
coal  H,  pounded  into  large  pieces  several  inches 
in  thickness,  then  a  layer  of  fine  sand,  and  finally 
some  small  pebbles.  The  filter  proper  is  now 
made.  You  will  have  to  be  careful  that  the 
gravel  and  sand  are  carefully  washed  and  that 
the  charcoal  is  of  a  good  quality,  perfectly  dry 
and  free  from  dust.  At  F  and  K  are  two  fau¬ 
cets,  the  one  for  clearing  the  filter  and  the  other 
for  drawing  the  filtered  water. 

To  filter  the  water  place  it  in  the  compart- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


123 


ment  A,  where  it  will  traverse  the  different  lay¬ 
ers  and  then  flood  to>  B  through  an  opening  L 
extending  across  the  entire  width  of  the  bot- 


A  FILTER. 


tom  and  about  five  inches  in  height.  The  com¬ 
partment  B  contains  only  some  fine  sand,  while 
C  is  reserved  for  the  filtered  water.  The  faucet 
at  K,  which  is  intended  for  drawing  the  water, 
should  be  at  a  few  inches  distance  from  the 


124 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


base  of  the  filter  so  that  if  the  filtration  has  not 
been  perfect  any  grains  of  sand  which  may  have 
been  brought  along  will  remain  at  the  bottom. 


AN  ACCURATE  PAIR  OF  SCALES. 

It  seems  almost  impossible  to  construct  an 
accurate  pair  of  scales  with  simply  rudimentary 
materials,  but  in  reality  nothing  is  easier. 

A  scholar’s  rule,  a  tin  box  (a  blacking-box, 
for  example),  three  little  blocks  of  wood,  some 
twine,  four  tacks,  two  pins,  a  bit  of  glass  and 
another  of  cardboard,  and  you  have  all  the 
necessary  materials;  and  now  for  the  construc¬ 
tion. 

Hollow  out  the  central  portion  of  the  rule 
and  upon  a  single  transverse  line  sink  two  nee¬ 
dles,  letting  them  pass  slightly  beyond  through 
the  other  side.  At  one  of  the  ends  of  the  rule 
C  nail  one  bit  of  your  wood,  and  at  the  place 
where  the  hook  sustaining  the  plate  will  come 
make  a  slight  indenture  with  a  tack  so  that  your 
hook  will  not  wander  over  the  plate.  At  the 
other  end,  A,  fasten  a  large  plate,  which  shall 
hold  your  weights;  at  the  end,  in  the  direction 
of  the  length  of  the  rule,  solder  a  pin,  the  point 
outside.  Your  second  plate  B,  designed  to  re- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


AN  ACCURATE  PAIR  OF  SCALES. 


126 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ceive  the  objects  to  be  weighed,  will  consist  of 
the  lid  of  the  blacking-box.  Upon  the  brim,  at 
equal  distances  apart  pierce  four  holes,  through 
which  you  will  pass  the  twine  for  suspending 
the  plate,  and  which  you  will  unite  above  into 
one,  attaching  it  to  a  pin  that  has  been  trans¬ 
formed  into  a  hook,  or  to  a  fishhook. 

It  now  remains  to  construct  the  fulcrum  for 
your  scales.  Upon  a  rather  thick  block  of  wood 
E  fix  another  block  G,  to  which  you  will  glue  a 
bit  of  glass  with  gum  arabic.  At  the  socket  you 
will  stick  four  tacks  for  the  purpose  of  prevent¬ 
ing  the  beam  from  going  either  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left.  The  little  truncated  pyramid  D 
shown  in  the  cut  illustrates  what  it  should  be. 

In  using  the  scales  suppose  that  you  place  in 
the  plate  A  a  weight  which  you  judge  to  be 
slightly  heavier  than  the  substance  which  is  to 
be  weighed.  Then,  the  plate  being  filled,  you 
will  seek  to  obtain  an  equilibrium  by  bringing 
the  weight  of  A  more  or  less  near  the  ruler; 
you  will  notice  the  division  indicated  by  the 
point,  then  you  will  remove  from  B  what  you 
had  placed  in  it,  and  you  will  now  need  only 
to  place  in  that  plate  the  weights  as  far  as  the 
point  of  the  plate  A  in  order  to  show  you  that 
the  equilibrium  previously  taken  is  re-estab- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


127 


lished.  As  you  see,  these  scales  do  not  need 
to  be  accurate;  it  suffices  that  they  are  sensible. 


AN  ECONOMICAL  LETTER-WEIGHT. 

Take  the  spring  of  a  watch  or  of  a  small  clock 
and  fasten  it  by  the  middle  to  a  little  rod.  At 


AN  ECONOMICAL  LETTER-WEIGHT. 

the  other  end  fix  a  small  brass  hook,  as  the  ac¬ 
companying  cut  shows,  and  at  the  top  of  the 
hook  attach  an  index  which  will  run  the  length 
of  a  band  of  cardboard  also  fastened  to  the  rod. 
The  letter-weight  is  now  constructed;  you  will 
graduate  your  scale,  and  when  this  preliminary 
work  is  completed  you  can  weigh  letters  and 


128 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


small  objects  with  sufficient  accuracy.  The 
spring  being  of  steel,  it  will  always  resume  its 
former  shape. 


A  PHOTOGRAPHIC  CAMERA. 

Here  is  a  very  simple  method  of  making  a 
camera  for  a  pocket  photographic  apparatus. 
Cut  a  square  of  stout  cardboard  measuring  two 
or  three  inches  on  a  side.  In  the  middle  make 
a  circular  opening  a  little  larger  than  your  lens 
which  you  will  fit  to  the  aperture,  having  the  rim 
of  the  glass  touch  the  outline  of  the  orifice.  Then 
cut  out  two  triangles  from  the  same  cardboard, 
with  one  side  equal  to  the  side  of  the  square, 
and  a  length  calculated  according  to  the  focus 
of  the  lens.  For  a  simple  lens  the  length  of  the 
triangles  should  be  about  one-half  the  length  of 
its  focus. 

The  two  triangles  being  cut  out,  paste  them 
to  the  square  at  A  and  B;  their  base  C  will  sup¬ 
port  a  rectangular  mirror  of  the  same  dimen¬ 
sions  as  the  side  C  of  the  square  and  the  side  of 
the  triangles.  Upon  the  side  D  place  a  piece 
of  rough  glass,  or,  in  default  of  that,  some  thin, 
transparent  paper,  tissue-paper,  for  example. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  construct  a  sort 


FUN.  WITH  MAGIC 


129 


of  parasol  designed  to  conceal  the  sunbeams 


which  would  destroy  the  image  upon  the  glass. 


Fig.  93.  Fig.  94. 


130 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


Cut  out  a  piece  of  cardboard  which  is  abso¬ 


lutely  opaque  into  the  shape  indicated  in  the 


A  PHOTOGRAPHIC  CAMERA. 

figure;  the  dotted  lines  show  where  it  is  to  be 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


131 

turned  under.  You  will  attach  the  parasol  to 
the  camera  by  passing  through  the  holes  SS 
an  iron  shank  or  needle,  which  will  also  pene¬ 
trate  the  upper  angle  of  the  triangles  forming 
the  sides.  You  will  now  have  only  to  fasten 
your  lens  to  the  orifice  in  the  square  and  your 
camera  is  finished. 

The  parasol  is  used  to  make  the  darkness  as 
complete  as  possible  so  that  the  operator  can 
perceive  in  the  middle  of  the  camera  the  object 
or  the  person  which  he  wishes  to  photograph. 


AN  ECONOMICAL  PLATE  HOLDER. 

Six  objects  very  readily  to  be  had  while  at 
table  are  requisite  in  order  to  construct  the 
economical  plate-holder:  three  knives  and  three 
glasses  of  the  same  height. 

Invert  the  glasses  and  arrange  them  in  the 
form  of  a  triangle,  placing  upon  each  the  handle 
of  one  of  the  knives.  You  will  cross  the  blades 
in  such  a  way  that  the  first  one  put  in  position 
will  pass  over  the  second,  and  the  second  will 
pass  over  the  third,  the  last  passing  over  the 
first;  the  blades  will  then  sustain  each  other  in 
a  mutual  support,  and  you  can  place  upon  them 
a  dish  or  any  other  heavy  object  without  run- 


132 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ning  any  risk  of  having  the  holder  give  way. 
The  disposition  of  the  glasses  and  knives  is  suf- 


AN  ECONOMICAL  PLATE  HOLDER. 


ficiently  clearly  indicated  in  our  design  to  make 
detailed  explanations  needless. 


THE  TACK  IN  THE  CEILING. 

To  insert  a  tack  into  the  ceiling  without  a 
hammer  and  without  the  aid  of  a  step-ladder  to 
reach  the  ceiling,  appears  to  be  a  wholly  im¬ 
practicable  feat,  yet  with  a  little  dexterity  noth¬ 
ing  is  simpler. 

Take  a  carpet  or  an  artist’s  tack  and  set  it 
on  its  head  upon  a  penny;  then  place  over  it  a 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


133 


sheet  of  thin  paper,  allowing  the  point  of  the 
tack  to  pierce  through.  Now  fold  the  paper 
underneath  the  penny  as  indicated  in  the  cut, 


THE  TACK  IN  THE  CEILING. 

and,  this  done,  seize  the  coin  in  your  hand  and 
toss  it  violently  to  the  ceiling,  being  careful  that 
in  its  passage  it  will  keep  in  place.  It  will  reach 
the  ceiling  very  rapidly,  the  tack  will  adhere, 
and  the  violence  of  the  shock  will  tear  the  paper, 
which,  loaded  with  the  penny,  will  sink  to  the 
floor. 

Supposing  that  you  have  a  light  object  to  sus¬ 
pend  to  the  ceiling;  you  can  do  so  by  attach- 


134 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


ing  it  to  the  tack  and  proceeding  as  just  indi¬ 
cated.  If  the  packet  will  be  cleverly  hurled  the 
tack  will  sink  well  into  the  ceiling  and  take  a 
secure  hold. 


TO  CUT  A  ROPE  WITH  THE  HANDS. 
The  following  instructions  will  enable  you  to 


TO  CUT  A  ROPE  WITH  THE  HANDS. 


sever  a  cord  of  very  respectable  thickness,  re 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


135 


quiring  only  a  little  deftness  and  a  brisk  move¬ 
ment. 

Fasten  the  cord  about  your  hand  so  as  to  form 
a  loop  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  the  end  pass¬ 
ing  three  or  four  times  around  your  fingers  so 
as  to  insure  solidity  to  the  loop;  this  done,  take 
the  end  in  the  other  hand,  give  it  three  or 
four  turns  about  your  hand,  then  draw  it  with 
a  sharp  jerk;  the  string  will  break  neatly  at  the 
juncture  of  the  loop  in  the  left  hand. 

When  you  become  practiced  you  will  be  able 
to  sever  the  string  with  two  thumbs  alone. 


A  DRAWING  GLASS. 

Upon  one  of  the  surfaces  of  a  piece  of  glass 
lay  a  coat  of  lampblack  diluted  in  rich  oil.  If 
you  will  place  your  glass  thus  prepared  upon 
an  engraving  representing  flowers,  fruits,  birds 
and  the  like  you  will  perceive  an  infinite  variety 
of  forms,  some  of  which  will  be  absolutely- 
charming.  In  order  to  reproduce  these  in  per¬ 
manent  form  it  will  suffice  to  interpose  a  sheet 
of  transparent  paper,  vegetable  or  otherwise,  to 
draw  a  stroke  of  your  crayon  the  length  of  the 
glass,  and  to  outline  that  part  of  the  design 
which  ends  at  the  foot  of  the  glass.  Then  fold 


136 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


the  paper  along  the  line  you  drew  and  you  can 
then  finish  the  design. 


A  DRAWING  GLASS. 


The  glass,  fulfilling  the  office  of  mirror, 
doubles  the  figures  in  symmetrical  forms,  and 
according  as  one  makes  it  move  it  creates  new 
shapes. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


137 


AN  ARCHERY  WITH  PENS. 

To  make  a  bow  of  whalebone  and  to  outline 
a  target  with  two  or  three  concentric  circles 


AN  ARCHERY  WITH  PENS. 

does  not  offer  many  difficulties.  For  arrows 
take  a  steel  pen  and  divide  it  into  two  parts; 
fix  each  part  to  a  match  and  you  have  an  en- 


138 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


tertaining  and  inoffensive  little  archery  in  your 
own  room. 


A  SIMPLE  AND  ECONOMICAL  MULTI- 

PLIGRAPH. 

Steep  two  sheets  of  blotting  paper  in  an  ani¬ 
line  ink  and  place  one  above  the  other. 

Write  in  very  delicate  characters  upon  a  card 
whatever  you  wish  to  reproduce,  and  then  prick 
with  a  pin  the  words  which  you  have  traced. 
The  holes  should  be  extremely  neat  and  close 
together.  Apply  this  card  on  the  side  you  have 
written  upon  to  the  sheets  of  blotting  paper  im¬ 
pregnated  with  ink  and  press  upon  it  vigorously 
so  that  the  words  traced  will  be  reproduced 
upon  your  paper  in  dots.  If  your  pin-holes  have 
been  well  made  you  can  in  this  way  draw  a  num¬ 
ber  of  proofs. 

You  can  fasten  the  blotting  paper  and  the 
type-card  to  a  small  board  with  artist’s  tacks. 


THE  MAGIC  THEATER. 

It  is  necessary  for  a  complete  illusion  that 
you  draw  on  cardboard  and  cut  out  the  facade 
of  a  theater.  The  success  of  this  feature  of  your 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


139 


toy  will  depend  upon  your  skill  as  an  artist. 
Behind  the  curtain  place  upon  a  little  alcohol 
lamp  a  saucepan  whose  interior  is  carefully  oiled. 


THE  MAGIC  THEATER. 

Throw  into  it  some  bits  of  rubber  cut  into  very 
fine  pieces.  When  the  rubber  begins  to  melt 
toss  a  spoonful  of  cold  water  briskly  into  the 
saucepan,  when  numbers  of  sparks  will  instantly 
form,  dancing  in  all  directions  and  resembling 
a  bouquet  of  artificial  flowers. 


140 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


THE  HERMETICAL  CORK. 

How  often  it  happens  that  a  bottle  is  to  be 
corked,  and  the  only  corks  at  hand  are  too  large 


THE  HERMETICAL  CORK. 

for  its  neck!  The  usual  thing  done  in  that  case 
is  to  cut  down  a  cork,  with  the  result  that  it 
fits  the  orifice  in  question  but  very  imperfectly. 

A  better  plan  under  the  circumstances  would 
be  an  arrangement  such  as  is  indicated  in  the 
illustration:  four  slits  in  the  cork.  Thus  pre- 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


141 


pared,  it  will  seal  hermetically  any  phials  or  bot¬ 
tles. 


AN  ECONOMICAL  BINDING  FOR 

PAPERS. 

Do  not  throw  away  your  old  envelopes,  but 
preserve  them  for  making  an  economical  bind¬ 
ing  for  papers  and  tracts. 

Cut  the  envelopes  as  indicated  in  the  first 


Fig.  105. 


figure,  that  is  to  say,  upon  its  two  lateral  sides, 
so  that  you  can  open  it  as  shown  in  the  second 
illustration.  This  done,  you  can  turn  it  over  and 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


LA  3CIENCT  MOO£Rlvr  , 

cA 

S'  . 

./y  <  . 

. 

AN  ECONOMICAL  BINDING  FOR  PAPERS. 

glue  the  paper  below.  You  will  then  have 
solid  and  inexpensive  binding. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


143 


RAPID  VEGETATION. 


A  cheap  sponge  suffices  for  the  foundation  of 
a  hanging-basket.  Plunge  it  into-  hot  water 


144 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


and  then  press  it  so  as  to  drain  it  of  one-half 
of  the  liquid;  then,  in  the  holes,  the  pores  of  the 
sponge,  introduce  grains  of  millet,  of  red  clover, 
of  barley,  of  flax,  of  gramineal  and  the  like,  any 
plants,  in  fact,  which  germinate  readily  and 
which  all  together  will  present  as  large  a  variety 
as  possible  in  the  tinting  of  their  leaves.  The 
sponge  being  thus  prepared,  place  it  upon  a 
vase,  or,  better,  suspend  it  in  a  window  where 
the  sun  shines  part  of  the  day.  Every  morning 
for  a  week  water  its  entire  surface  with  a  gentle 
sprinkling  of  water.  Soon  the  seeds  will  begin 
to  germinate  and  then  to  sprout,  and  in  a  very 
brief  period  of  time  you  will  have  a  ball  of  ver¬ 
dure  which  will  serve  as  an  adornment  to*  a 
room. 


THE  AUTOMATIC  PEDESTRIENNE. 

The  walking  doll,  which  is  a  common  object 
in  toy  shops,  is  constructed  on  very  simple  and 
practical  principles  of  mechanics.  The  doll  con¬ 
sists  of  a  metal  puppet,  through  whose  hands 
passes  a  steel  wire  curved  in  the  form  of  an  in¬ 
verted  V,  as  indicated  in  our  design.  By  means 
of  this  contrivance  it  maintains  an  upright  posi¬ 
tion,  leaning  on  the  wire  for  support.  The  doll 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


is  placed  on  an  inclined  plane,  a  small  board 
resting  on  two  slender  metal  columns,  that  at 


146 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


one  end  being  higher  than  that  at  the  other, 
thus  affording  the  desired  slope.  The  puppet 
advances,  bearing  first  upon  one  leg  and  then 
upon  the  other,  precisely  imitating  the  motions 
of  a  person  when  walking.  This  result  is  ob¬ 
tained  without  any  but  the  simplest  mechanism. 

The  start  is  made  at  the  top  of  the  plane  by 
giving  the  doll  a  light  stroke  on  her  side.  This 
blow,  augmented  by  the  wire  upon  which  she 
rests,  causes  her  to  lean  first  to  one  side  and 
then  to  the  other.  Now,  when  she  leans  to  the 
left  all  the  weight  of  her  body  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  her  left  leg,  while  the  right  leg,  being 
free  of  all  burden,  is  naturally  carried  forward 
upon  the  board.  The  oscillation  continues  and 
the  weight  is  now  transferred  to  the  right  foot, 
the  left  goes  ahead  in  its  turn,  and  so  on. 

The  little  pedestrienne  presents  a  very  inter¬ 
esting  spectacle,  which,  to  those  ignorant  of  the 
secret  of  her  apparent  locomotion,  appears  to 
be  the  result  of  a  complicated  piece  of  machin¬ 
ery. 


THE  HORSEWOMAN. 

This  toy  is  one  of  the  most  curious  of  its 
kind. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


147 


Picture  to  yourself  a  heavy  pivot  whose  axis 


THE  HORSEWOMAN. 


is  provided  with  a  socket  which  -  can  revolve 


148 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


freely.  This  socket,  by  means  of  two  arms,  sus¬ 
tains  a  heavy  top,  which  constitutes  a  fly-wheel, 
its  lower  extremity  touching  upon  the  inclined 
surface  of  the  socket.  The  other  extremity  of 
the  axis  of  the  top  is  surmounted  by  a  toy 
wheel,  about  which  is  twined  the  cord  destined 
to  set  the  top  in  motion.  Such  is  the  motive 
power  of  the  equestrienne. 

The  horse  is  connected  with  the  socket  by 
a  horizontal  wire,  around  which  it  can  oscillate. 
Between  its  hind  feet  is  fastened  a  small  eccen¬ 
tric  wheel,  which  imparts  to  the  little  animal 
a  series  of  vaulting  movements  resembling  a 
horse  galloping.  By  means  of  another  cord  the 
equestrienne  is  united  to  the  socket.  This  wire 
fits  into  a  vertically  situated  disk,  about  which 
it  twines,  and  ends  in  a  loop,  forming  a  button 
which  rests  on  the  floor.  The  horsewoman’s 
feet  serve  to  hold  the  wire  against  a  cog,  which 
revolves  about  the  central  axis  of  the  pivot.  The 
vertical  disk  which  supports  her  can  oscillate 
about  its  axis.  The  cog  bears  a  spur  which  is 
located  slightly  in  front  of  the  obstacle  over 
which  the  puppet  must  leap. 

The  top  having  been  set  in  motion,  it  is  car¬ 
ried  by  friction  around  the  socket  and  commu¬ 
nicates  its  movement  to  the  central  socket, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


149 


which  in  its  turn  involves  the  equestrienne  in 
motion.  The  end  resting  upon  the  cog  will 
come  in  contact  with  the  spur,  which  causes 
the  wire  sustaining  the  puppet  to  straighten 
out,  when  the  latter  will  briskly  leap  over  the 
obstacle  and  descend  upon  her  horse.  The  in¬ 
telligence  of  the  inventor  has  been  particularly 
exercised  in  the  secondary  movements.  He  has 
given  the  cog  a  very  feeble  spoke;  it  follows 
that  the  moment  the  doll  gets  in  position  to  leap 
she  inclines  slightly  forward  as  if  she  were  about 
to  take  a  leap.  The  little  horse  not  only  re¬ 
volves,  but,  thanks  to  the  small  eccentric  wheel 
of  which  mention  has  been  made,  he  goes 
through  a  series  of  motions  very  similar  to  those 
of  steeds  at  full  gallop. 

The  engraving  presents  a  view  of  the  entire 
toy,  which  is  a  marvel  of  ingenuity. 


THE  MECHANICAL  ELEPHANT. 

The  mechanical  elephant  derives  his  power 
of  locomotion  from  the  strength  of  a  fly-wheel 
animated  by  a  very  lively  angular  movement. 
This  fly-wheel  consists  of  the  parasol  which  sur¬ 
mounts  the  head  of  the  driver,  doing  its  work 
by  means  of  a  string.  Its  axis,  which  is  almost 


150 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


vertical,  just  touches  the  circumference  of  a 


iiililR 


LrUmI1 


;:’TO«l!!!!!]l!;!!|§||j! 


. . . 

.  (|>  . . . 

. 

;gS»» 


-  - . . . 

tiiMKHHiHu.ui . iinniinKi|iii;i;i"l|!uiiiii,,i":r;;-;l.;:U 

»  «wS  S&B8BHHR 


«i  SiitainaSiffi 


“CfleS?" 


MiieuJi 


vsm&ap 


•jisrissP* 

jMIfflWIHWjii; 


jill! 

i!ii!|  ••iijlj;!! 

? 

‘1  III  Pi  M H  IK 

mm 

^  NHW 

mm\ 

I:1!;: 

j-iKij' 

THE  MECHANICAL  ELEPHANT. 


slightly  conical  wheel  whose  axis  is  horizontal 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


I5i 

Upon  this  axis  are  two  handles  which  reunite, 


Fig.  1 12. 

one  from  each  side,  two  cranks  connecting  the 


152 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


legs  of  the  elephant  and  imparting  to  them  an 
alternating  movement.  The  handles  are  dis¬ 
posed  in  such  a  way  that  the  two  legs  on  one 
side  oscillate  in  an  inverse  direction  and  in  op¬ 
position  to  the  two  others. 

In  order  to  arrange  that  each  foot  will  rest 
immobile  upon  the  ground  during  the  move¬ 
ment  forward,  the  inventor  has  placed  a  tiny 
brake  in  each  leg,  provided  with  a  small  mar¬ 
ble.  When  the  forward  movement  takes  place 
the  brake  turns  upon  the  floor;  in  the  contrary 
case  the  marble  goes  between  the  interior  wall 
of  the  leg  and  the  brake  and  prevents  the  latter 
from  turning. 

The  gait  of  the  animal  is  absolutely  regular. 
The  legs  move  slowly  along,  alternating  be¬ 
tween  the  left  and  the  right  and  keeping  the 
entire  apparatus  in  perfect  equilibrium  so  that 
the  ponderous  march  of  the  powerful  pachy¬ 
derm  is  cleverly  imitated. 


THE  SOMERSAULT. 

f'  Another  toy  which  again  is  a  marvel  in  its 
simplicity. 

Based  upon  principles  similar  to  those  of  the 
toys  previously  described,  the  somersault  is 


FUN  WI  TH  MAGIC 


153 


THE  SOMERSAULT, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


154 

composed  of  a  socket  carrying  a  horizontal 
wheel  whose  circumference  is  slightly  softened. 
The  axis,  with  the  aid  of  arms,  supports  a  heavy 
disk  whose  axis,  placed  horizontally,  bears  on 
one  side  upon  a  vertical  wheel  and  on  the  other 
is  terminated  by  a  little  bobbin  wound  round 
with  rubber. 

The  axis  of  the  vertical  wheel  is  prolonged 
and  supports  at  its  extremity  two  tiny  puppets 
representing  two  children  whose  bodies  can 
bend  in  two. 

This  little  contrivance  will  be  set  in  motion 
if  you  will  strike  the  little  bobbin  with  a  small 
stick  mounted  in  a  handle.  Make  your  blow 
sharp,  drawing  the  stick  toward  you,  and  the 
bobbin,  which  is  located  upon  the  same  axis 
with  the  disk,  will  give  to  the  latter  a  rapid 
movement  of  rotation.  This  movement  will  be 
communicated  to  the  vertical  wheel  by  means 
of  the  other  extremity  of  the  axis,  which  is  ter¬ 
minated  by  an  endless  screw;  the  vertical  wheel 
is  then  caught  between  two  frictions;  it  sets  the 
two  puppets  in  motion,  causing  them  to  leap 
the  one  over  the  other.  The  arm  which  sup¬ 
ports  them  enters  below  the  shoulder  and  the 
opening  is  longitudinal,  enabling  the  support  to 
glide  downward  in  the  opening.  It  follows  that 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


155 


the  puppet,  when  touching  the  ground,  will 
lower  itself  slightly,  thus  producing  a  perfect 
imitation  of  the  schoolboy  as  he  bends  down 
so  that  his  comrade  may  spring  over  him. 


THE  BOXERS. 

Our  chapter  of  marvels  in  ingenuity  con¬ 
cludes  with  a  most  curious  toy — a  pair  of  boxers 
who  engage  in  a  veritable  match.  The  mech¬ 
anism,  as  in  the  other  toys,  is  of  the  simplest. 

A  horizontal  rod  portrayed  at  the  base  of  the 
drawing  serves  as  a  balancing-beam.  It  is  con¬ 
nected  with  an  arm  by  an  axis  which  supports 
a  muff.  The  movement  is  given  by  a  strong 
elastic,  which  is  twisted  by  means  of  an  ex¬ 
terior  handle.  This  elastic,  in  loosening,  causes 
a  toothed  wheel  to  revolve,  which  works  in  with 
the  muff. 

One  foot  of  each  boxer  is  fixed  upon  a  vertical 
axis  bent  into  Z  shape;  the  two  axes  are  united 
by  a  crank,  which  makes  them  execute  the  same 
movements.  One  of  the  axes  has  an  arm  pro¬ 
longed  to  the  end  of  the  horizontal  balancing- 
beam,  so  that  each  time  the  toothed  wheel  turns 
a  movement  in  and  out  is  inaugurated,  which  is 
communicated  to  the  two  boxers.  Since  but 


156  FUN  WITH  MAGIC 

one  of  the  feet  of  each  is  held  fixed  and  the  other 


THE  BOXERS. 


three  members,  thanks  to  the  rubber,  are  ren¬ 
dered  free  and  mobile,  it  follows  that  every 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


157 


movement  of  the  machinery  below  impels  them 
to  execute  a  series  of  interesting  gestures  ex¬ 
ceedingly  appropriate  to  the  scene  represented 
by  the  toy. 


THE  TOP  SPOUTING  WATER. 

Here  is  a  curious  application  of  a  gyratory 
motion  in  a  liquid  medium. 

The  instrument  which  will  serve  to  throw  a 
jet  of  water  in  a  room,  and,  better  still,  to  pre¬ 
sent  an  imitation  of  a  fountain,  is  a  simple  top, 
very  heavy  and  with  its  axis  traversed  by  a  slen¬ 
der  conduit  with  an  interior  furrow  terminating 
the  lower  part  of  the  axis. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  the  desired  result  you 
need  only  to  impart  a  strong  rotary  movement 
to  the  top  by  means  of  a  twine  twisted  about 
it  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  arrow  in 
the  cut  and  to  place  it  in  a  plate  of  water  whose 
level  rises  about  to  the  middle  of  the  furrow. 
By  means  of  an  independent  foot  provided  with 
a  bit  of  cloth  so  as  to  preserve  adhesion  to  the 
bottom  of  the  plate  the  top  will  remain  upright 
and  revolve  upon  that  foot.  The  movement  of 
the  furrow  will  create  an  ascending  eddy,  which 
will  penetrate  into  the  axis  of  the  top,  and  a  jet 


THE  TOP  SPOUTING  WATER. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


159 


of  water  will  emerge,  rising  as  much  as  a  yard 
high. 

With  the  use  of  some  colored  liquid,  red  or 
blue  ink,  for  example,  and  with  some  experi¬ 
mentation  with  the  effects  at  night  under  arti¬ 
ficial  light,  you  can  obtain  a  copy  in  miniature 
of  a  luminous  fountain. 


A  TRICK  AFTER  ROBERT  HOUDIN. 

This  recreation  cannot  at  first  appear  to  have 
a  scientific  character,  but  rests  almost  entirely 
upon  an  optical  illusion,  so  that  even  after  you 
have  executed  it  before  a  number  of  persons 
you  can  still  state  that  you  find  it  impossible  to 
explain  the  feat. 

Have  your  two  wrists  tied  together  with  some 
bandage,  preferably  a  silk  handkerchief,  the 
palms  of  your  hands  placed  against  each  other, 
your  fingers  stretched  out.  Then  ask  some  one 
to  pass  between  the  two  wrists,  underneath  the 
handkerchief,  a  strong  little  cord  without  any 
knots,  at  least  4  or  5  yards  long.  You  will  then 
have  some  person  grasp  the  two  extremities  of 
the  cord  and  you  will  request  him  to  draw  it 
hard  towards  himself.  Thus  equipped,  you  will 
announce  that,  without  cutting  the  cord,  with- 


i6o 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


out  having  the  extremities  loosened,  and  re¬ 
maining  with  your  wrists  bound,  you  will  dis¬ 
entangle  the  string.  Every  one  will  declare  that 
it  cannot  be  done. 

Your  end  will  be  realized  if  you  will  bend  back 
one  of  your  hands  underneath  and  with  the  mid- 


A  TRICK  AFTER  ROBERT  HOUDIN 


die  finger  seize  the  loop  of  the  cord,  which  still 
remains  stretched,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  cut. 
Then  take  a  few  steps  forward  so  as  to  loosen 
the  cord  and  pass  the  loop  beneath  your  fingers. 
You  will  now  request  the  person  holding  the 
ends  of  the  cord  to  pull  it  toward  him  again, 
and  it  will  at  once  emerge  from  your  hands 
alone.  In  reality  the  loop  had  slipped  between 
the  handkerchief  and  the  palm  of  your  hand. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


161 


As  a  preventive  against  any  one  perceiving 
the  movements  of  your  fingers,  it  will  be  best 
for  you,  during  the  operation,  to  agitate  your 
hands  briskly  in  all  directions  so  that  the  specta¬ 
tors  cannot  see  what  you  are  doing. 


POPULAR  FIRE-WORKS. 

As  your  materials,  take  simply  an  ordinary 
box  of  Swedish  matches.  Remove  one  match 


POPULAR  FIRE-WORKS. 

and  take  the  position  indicated  in  the  illustra¬ 
tion,  that  is  to  say,  hold  the  box  in  a  slightly 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


162 

slanting  posture  between  the  thumb  and  the 
index  finger,  and  place  the  match  with  its  head 
against  the  side  to  be  scratched.  Bear  with 
moderate  force  upon  the  match,  and  with  your 
free  hand  strike  it  sharply  at  A  in  the  direction 
indicated  by  the  arrow.  You  will  see  the 
wooden  end  spinning  and  burning  the  while, 
and  finally  falling  at  a  distance  of  from  3  to  6 
yards. 

After  a  little  practice  you  can  meet  with  suc¬ 
cess  at  every  trial.  The  experiment  is  very 
pretty,  particularly  at  night  in  complete  dark¬ 
ness,  when  it  has  the  very  appearance  of  minia¬ 
ture  rockets. 


A  TARGET  LINE. 

Here  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  amuse¬ 
ment  and  very  easy  of  success,  although  it  may 
at  first  appear  somewhat  difficult. 

Invert  a  glass  and  by  means  of  a  soft  crumb 
of  bread  stand  a  match  in  an  upright  position 
on  its  top.  Upon  the  edge  of  the  table  place  an¬ 
other  match,  resting  one  end  of  it  on  some  sup¬ 
port,  a  bit  of  cork  or  the  like.  Then  lean  down 
and  look  at  the  vertical  match  upon  the  glass 
in  such  a  way  that  the  other  on  the  table  will 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC  163 

be  exactly  on  a  line  with  it.  This  ascertained,  rap 


A  TARGET  LINE. 


upon  the  lower  extremity  of  the  second  match 
and  it  will  strike  the  match  on  the  glass. 


THE  ENCHANTED  COIN. 

If  you  succeed  in  performing  the  following 
trick  you  may  be  assured  of  success  as  a  con¬ 
jurer. 

Provide  yourself  as  utensils  with  a  drinking- 
glass  having  flat  bottom  and  on  pedestal  if  pos¬ 
sible;  with  a  pocket-handkerchief,  with  a  coin, 


164 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


and,  in  secret,  with  a  watch-glass  or  a  large  glass 
counter. 

Now  let  every  one  present  see  you  place  the 


THE  ENCHANTED  COIN. 

coin  in  the  center  of  the  handkerchief  and  fold 
the  latter  about  it,  stating  at  the  end  that  the 
coin  is  still  in  its  place.  As  a  verification  of  your 
words,  ask  some  one  to  feel  of  the  handkerchief 
for  the  coin.  Then  hold  all  over  a  glass  con¬ 
taining  a  little  water,  loosen  the  handkerchief 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


165 

and  the  sound  of  the  piece  of  money  as  it 
touches  the  bottom  of  the  glass  will  be  heard. 
Raise  your  handkerchief,  unfolding  it  in  full  view. 
There  will  be  nothing  in  the  tumbler!  The  ex¬ 
planation  is  simple.  All  your  skill  must  be  con¬ 
centrated  in  adroitly  substituting  the  watch- 
glass  for  the  coin  at  the  time  that  the  latter  is 
supposed  to  be  placed  in  the  center  of  the  hand¬ 
kerchief.  In  falling  the  glass  will  produce  the 
same  sound  as  a  piece  of  money. 


A  DIMINUTIVE  CATAPULT. 

Take  a  box  of  Swedish  matches  and  stand  it 
on  end.  Then  slip  two  matches  between  the 
walls  of  the  box,  one  on  each  side,  with  the 
phosphorated  ends  above  and  the  other  ends 
firmly  inserted  below.  Place  a  third  match  hori¬ 
zontally  between  them  as  a  cross-beam,  keep¬ 
ing  it  in  position  by  the  pressure  which  they 
exert  in  the  effort  to  resume  the  vertical  position 
from  which  is  has  displaced  them.  You  must 
be  very  careful  that  the  cross-beam  is  somewhat 
longer  than  the  distance  separating  the  upright 
matches. 

Now  light  the  middle  match  and  wait.  When 
the  fire  has  sufficiently  diminished  its  size  and 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


1 66 

force  of  resistance,  a  moment  will  come  when 
the  vertical  matches  will  be  able  to  assume  their 


A  DIMINUTIVE  CATAPULT. 

former  position,  in  doing  which  they  will  pro¬ 
ject  it  into  space.  They  will  then  stand  erect 
as  at  first,  unharmed  by  the  flame. 


THE  FOUR  MATCHES. 

Take  two  matches,  make  a  notch  in  each  at 
the  unphosphorated  end,  and  fit  the  one  into  the 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


167 


THE  FOUR  MATCHES 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


1 68 

other  so  as  to  form  an  angle.  Now  place  them 
vertically  upon  a  table,  using  a  third  match  as 
a  support,  something  after  the  fashion  of  an 
easel.  Then  with  your  fourth  match  raise  the 
other  three  without  disturbing  the  little  erec¬ 
tion  and  transport  it  to  some  other  place.  Apj 
parently  a  difficult  feat,  this  may  very  readily 
be  done.  It  will  suffice  if  you  slip  the  fourth 
match  between  the  two  held  together  by  theif 
extremities  and  the  supporting  match.  If  you 
will  press  it  lightly  against  the  first  two  matches 
the  third  match  will  change  its  position,  placing 
its  upper  end  between  the  angle  formed  by  the 
two  others.  Lift  the  whole  briskly  and  this  end 
will  be  firm  and  you  can  remove  the  easel  to 
some  other  spot. 


HOW  TO  RAISE  FOUR  KNIVES  WITH 

ONE  KNIFE. 

Here  is  an  interesting  little  trick  in  balancing. 

Detailed  explanations  are  scarcely  necessary, 
since  the  figure  illustrates  with  sufficient  clear¬ 
ness  the  manner  of  procedure.  First  lay  a  knife 
on  a  table  directly  in  front  of  you,  then  two 
other  knives,  which  will  be  placed  blade  upon 
blade  above  the  first;  now  the  two  remaining 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


169 


knives  should  be  transversely  arranged,  their 
blades  passing  over  the  blades  of  the  two  just 


HOW  TO  RAISE  FOUR  KNIVES  WITH  ONE  KNIFE. 


located  and  beneath  the  blade  of  the  first  knife. 
In  lifting  the  handle  of  the  latter  you  will  then 
be  enabled  to  raise  the  whole  without  breaking 
the  equilibrium. 


THE  VAULTING  PEA. 

Take  a  straw  4  or  5  inches  long  and  about 
one-fifth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  unbroken  and 
a  perfect  tube. 

Divide  one  of  its  ends  for  a  distance  of  per¬ 
haps  three-quarters  of  an  inch  into  4  or  5  sec¬ 
tions,  which  you  will  lightly  separate  so  as  to 
form  a  truncated  cone. 


170  FUN  WITH  MAGIC 

The  straw  thus  prepared,  place  a  green  pea 
of  about  the  same  diameter  as  the  straw  into 


THE  VAULTING  PEA. 

the  cone,  hold  the  straw  perpendicularly  and 
breathe  forcibly  into  the  other  end. 

The  pea  will  immediately  be  projected  into 
the  air  by  the  column  of  air  which  you  intro¬ 
duced  into  the  tube,  and  will  there  remain  so 
long  as  the  propulsion  will  last,  when  it  will 
sink  back  among  the  branches  of  the  cone.  This 
experiment  may  be  varied  by  passing  a  pin 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


171 


through  the  pea,  allowing  its  point  to  reach  into 
the  straw.  If  the  pea  will  be  well  shot,  it  will 
keep  up  at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  inches 
from  the  orifice  of  the  tube,  rising  or  sinking 
according  to  the  greater  or  less  strength  of 
the  propulsion. 


A  PROBLEM  IN  CHECKERS. 
Arrange  eight  men  so  that  there  will  be  but 


A  PROBLEM  IN  CHECKERS. 


one  man  on  each  line,  whether  horizontal,  per¬ 
pendicular  or  diagonal. 


172 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


The  first  man  should  be  placed  upon  the  third 
square  from  the  top;  the  second  upon  the  sixth 
square  from  the  bottom;  3  and  6  are  9. 

The  third  man  goes  on  the  fifth  square  of  the 
second  vertical  row,  and  the  fourth  upon  the 
fourth  square  of  the  last  but  one  row;  5  and 
4  also  are  9. 

The  fifth  man  goes  upon  the  second  square  of 
the  third  row,  and  the  sixth  upon  the  sixth  row 
in  the  seventh  square;  2  and  7  are  9. 

Finally  the  seventh  man  is  placed  upon  the 
eighth  square  of  the  fourth  row,  and  the  eighth 
man  upon  the  first  square  of  the  row  below; 
8  and  1  are  9. 


SHADOW-PICTURES. 

These  are  very  simple  recreations  which  serve 
as  pleasant  evening  pastimes.  If  you  possess  a 
certain  suppleness  of  hand,  you  can  make  the 
pictures  by  arranging  your  fingers  as  indicated 
in  the  accompanying  illustrations.  If  not,  you 
can  cut  them  out  of  cardboard  and  so  obtain 
the  same  results,  with  this  exception,  that  those 
made  with  the  living  hand  have  the  advantage 
of  being  able  to  represent  the  movements  of 
the  objects  delineated.  With  a  little  practice, 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


173 


SHADOW-PICTURES. 


174 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


SHADOW  PICTURES. 


FUN  WITH  MAGIC 


175 


any  one  can  attain  a  certain  skill  in  depicting 
the  subjects  with  their  hands,  and  will  also  be 
able  to  compose  other  subjects;  for  the  field  is 
vast.  Only  the  simplest  and  most  easy  of  exe¬ 
cution  are  herewith  presented. 


